Shadows and Silver Eyes
by DarthDakka
Summary: A team of would-be heroines looking for their wayward friend, a woman who would burn down nations to sate her ambitions and others find themselves set down different paths in the wake of a mysterious explosion. And two interlopers find themselves amid this tale of heroes and monsters, gods and magiks with an alien agenda of their own. (No OC/RWBY shipping!)
1. Chapter 1

**Part 1: New Kids on the Block**

**CHAPTER 1**

* * *

It was a fine morning late in summer when two agents of chaos arrived to Remnant.

The amber light of the rising sun slid through the tall windows that lined either side of Beacon Academy's massive central cafeteria. Inside was alive with activity, with many of it's adolescent students moving too and from the long rows of wooden tables. A steady buzz of voices filled the air as students who'd finished their breakfast began talking more freely with their friends and teammates.

Off to one side, Yang Xiao-Long watched her little sister Ruby Rose with purple eyes dark in concern.

Ruby, in her black blouse along with a waist cincher with red lacing and a combat skirt with red trimmings, was scraping the remains of her breakfast into a trashcan. A breakfast of pancakes with strawberries that Ruby had done little besides pick at, despite strawberries being her favorite food after chocolate-chip cookies.

Not that she could blame Ruby; Yang hadn't noticed the taste or texture of most of her own meal. And when she had, the breakfast had tasted like ashes going down.

Even as Yang followed her sister's example with the remains of her own breakfast, Ruby deposited her tray and dirty dishes into a nearby receptacle in the wall. Before Yang could speak to her, Ruby walked off, the red cloak pinned to her blouse by a pair of silver crosses, seemed to hang limp from her back in a mirror of it's owner's dejection.

Yang's heart twisted in her chest and she bit the side of her cheek as her older sibling instincts kicked in. Being accepted into Beacon two years early and given command of her own Huntress team meant that people tended to forget that Ruby Rose was a fifteen-year-old girl. But Yang would never forget, and to her Ruby would always be her baby sister.

It was rare for her half-sister to bottle her feelings in about something that bothered her. But it didn't take much effort from Yang to know why her little sister felt not just worried, but uncertain about how they'd find Blake after she'd ran off two days ago. Both of them knew that finding Yang's partner was going to be difficult. At the same time, Yang knew her sister was too much of an optimist to believe that Blake wouldn't want to come back with them if they could find and talk to her. That and Yang couldn't help but worry that something might have happened to Blake.

Yet, Yang had managed to tuck her feelings away to give encouragement and support. To let Ruby know her big sister had her back. To help her hold what remained of Team RWBY together. To try to keep Team JNPR or anyone else from getting suspicious.

But with that sight came a stab of emotion at how Blake's absence had affected Ruby and their team. An ember of hurt and anger.

With a huff, Yang pushed the feelings aside. Setting her tray down, Yang headed towards where her sister and five other people stood at a fast walk. She knew all of them of course. Weiss Schnee, the 'W' in Team RWBY. Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren of Team JNPR.

Like the rest of her friends, Yang wasn't wearing Beacon's school uniform. In the athletic, buxom teenager's case, her customary clothing was black shorts, heavy leather boots and a tan leather jacket. The last one was worn over a low-cut yellow top with her stylized insignia of a heart engulfed in flames.

"...going to see that new Spruce Lee film, _'Enter the Nevermore,'_" Pyrrha was saying as Yang walked up.

"Even if it won't be the same movie theater we'd normally go to," Jaune sounded a little sad about that as the little group walked out of the cafeteria, passing through the carved double doors.

Emerging out into the warmth of the morning sun, the six adolescents stepped onto one of the stone pathways that ran through the ornamental pools and green fields that comprised the campus' wide, sprawling grounds.

It was a sight that still sent a spark of excitement and wonder through Yang. After so many years of hard work, she was at _Beacon Academy._

"Why, what happened?" asked Weiss from besides Yang. The white-haired teen looked as prim and proper as always in her white dress and jacket. On her back and somewhat hidden by Weiss's off-centered ponytail, the snowflake symbol of the Schnee Dust Company stood out proudly.

Nora Valkyrie's partner and long time friend Lie Ren spoke up. The boy, his black hair disrupted by a pink streak, wore a long-sleeved green Mistrali-style tailcoat and white pants. "They still aren't happy with us after Nora got too carried away playing _'Whack-a-Grimm' _in the lobby arcade with Magnhild last month," he explained.

Nora had the decency to look a little embarrassed at this between chews. Despite having eaten a near mountain of flapjacks with enough syrup to induce a diabetic coma, she was still eating an apple.

Weiss stared at Nora, dumbfounded. Yang, however, was less surprised by Nora's antics, even if she thought that was going a bit too far, even for what passed as normal for Nora.

"_Geeeez_ Nora!" Yang laughed. Not for the first time this morning, Yang hoped none of them noticed how fake and forced her smile felt.

Yang had always worn her heart on her sleeve, sure, but she'd kept her fair share of personal secrets. Her dad didn't know about some of Yang's dates back at Signal, or why she'd come home late the night she'd visited _The_ _Bear __Necessities_and ended up trashing Junior's club. Even when they'd started at Beacon, Yang had managed to restrain herself from doing anything about Ruby wanting Weiss to respect her as leader of Team RWBY. But none of those had been as big as what had happened to Blake.

Noticing her little sister's continued silence, Yang glanced over at Ruby as a light breeze ruffled the other's red-tipped black hair. Ruby had barely spoken when everyone had been seated at breakfast, but had made some attempt to involve herself.

The distant look in Ruby's silver eyes and glum expression told Yang that Ruby wasn't paying much attention anymore. All of JNPR's talk about plans for the day and teammates must have been a painful reminder of Team RWBY's own situation to her.

Placing an arm across her sister's shoulders, Yang gave a quick squeeze of a one-armed hug. There was not much she could do to put her sister's mind at ease in front of JNPR. Not without revealing the situation with Blake. But Yang could at least do that.

Ruby shot Yang a relieved smile. It was a small smile, but it was there.

Yang remembered how when Blake had run off, Ruby had wanted to go after her right away. But she and Weiss had talked her out of it.

_Just let her get it out of her system. She needs time to calm down,_ Yang had told Ruby.

_And if she comes back on her own,_ Weiss added, _we don't have to worry about attracting attention and getting all of us in trouble._

That decision was one Yang had started to doubt more and more as the days had passed. She knew that sometimes people walked away because they want to be alone, but sometimes they walked away because they want to see if people cared enough to follow them.

"Are you alright Ruby? You've been acting weird." Jaune's voice brought Yang back to the present, her moment of introspection already forgotten.

The usual boyish enthusiasm in the tall blond boy's blue eyes had been replaced by one of concern, his eyebrows knitting together as he watched Ruby. The rest of JNPR looked just as curious and worried.

She barely noticed Weiss frozen in indecision; Yang's attention was on Ruby. She recognized the look on Ruby's silver eyes. Ruby was going to start babbling, like she almost always did when she was uncomfortable or had no idea what to do. Even more so with Jaune. After all, the pair of team leaders were best friends, and Ruby had probably wanted badly to tell him what was going on.

"Oh she's fine. She just didn't sleep well last night," Yang jumped in. She tried not to grimace, that had been about as subtle as an Ursa.

The reaction from JNPR was mixed. Jaune and Pyrrha exchanged glances. Nora looked more puzzled than anything else. Ren gave Yang a searching look; she answered with her best expression of polite confusion. For a moment, Yang worried that they would try to dig deeper.

"Oh. Well, if you feel better later, maybe all of us could meet up and have lunch?" Jaune suggested. Yang knew he was just being well-meaning and hoping to make Ruby feel better.

Besides her, she was aware of Weiss relaxing. She might have been better at hiding it than Yang or Ruby, but the white-haired girl had a nervous edge to her in recent days.

"Sorry, Jaune, but we've already have plans." Ruby answered, with some measure of her normal chipper tone.

"Yeah! We were planning to visit Patch for the day and visit my dad." Yang forced a somewhat apologetic expression on her face. In truth, she knew Ruby wanted to spend today searching Vale for Blake. She didn't know if Ruby had told Weiss about her plan.

Weiss shot Yang a glare out of the corner of her eye, but gave no other reaction.

"Oh I see."

"So is Blake coming with you guys?" Asked Nora.

Without thinking, one of Yang's hands brought her waist-length wild mane of curly blonde hair around her shoulder and began stroking it for a moment. She gave a small shrug that she hoped looked casual. "Maybe."

In spite of this being the two-week break between semesters, they'd known that sooner or later, someone would notice Blake's absence. So, the rest of Team RWBY had told people she was off visiting relatives outside the Kingdoms. That she'd lived outside the Kingdoms was a fact Blake herself had mentioned the few times she'd talked about her past.

"You don't know?" Pyrrha asked, puzzled.

"Well, Blake said she isn't sure if she'll be back in Vale today or not. And Scroll reception is not good where she is at." Weiss explained.

Anything Yang might have said next was forgotten. As in the next second, several things happened at once. On the edge of her vision, she caught a lightning-flash of purple and gray light in the direction of the forest of Forever Fall. In what must have been only a heartbeat later, a tearing rumble, like a thunderclap of sound, slammed into her ears.

Yang jerked in surprise, her hands clenching and moving without thought into a fighting stance. But almost stumbled back as the heel of a boot caught on one of the walkway's flagstones.

Around her, she could see and hear others reacting with sharp cries of surprise. Including Ruby jumping into the air with a startled squeak, leaving short flurry of red rose petals behind from her Semblance. Weiss, meanwhile, had cringed into herself, clapping both hands over her ears.

"Huh. Well, that was a thing." Yang remarked as the others began to recover from their joint shock.

"What was _that?_" asked Ruby. It was plain to Yang that any potential embarrassment she might have at accidentally using her Semblance was the last thing on her sister's mind. As her sister was busy peering towards a gap between two buildings in the direction the light had come from. To Yang's surprise, there wasn't any sign of smoke or fire.

"I have no clue sis. Some kind of weird lightning bolt?" She'd only caught a glimpse of the light, yet Yang felt troubled. She almost felt that there'd been something _wrong_ about it. But she couldn't figure out what. Perhaps she'd just been seeing things, given how fast the flash had come and gone.

"Oooh!" Nora interjected as she pulled Jaune to his feet. "Maybe it was the climax of an epic battle between some lone, grizzled Huntsman and the giant, one-eyed Ursa that took the life of the woman he loved! Fueled by love, vengeance, and a convenient vein of burn Dust beneath their feet he destroyed the monstrosity!"

The ginger-haired teen then went from manic to melancholic, as if someone had flipped a switch, "But tragically the wounds he took in the battle were too great even for Aura to heal and perishes. In his last moments he thinks of his love hoping that at last, they'll be reunited in the afterlife."

"Nora," Ren said slowly, "that was the plot of the movie we saw last month."

Pyrrha, who Yang guessed had been subtly stunned by what had happened, spoke up. Her tone one of polite skepticism, "I'm not quite sure Huntsmen being the cause is very likely."

"Pyrrha's right. Unless they were carrying a whole shipping container worth of Dust, it's not possible," chimed in Weiss.

Nora let out a disappointed, "Aww."

"I dunno Ice Queen, you might be onto something. Maybe it was a natural pocket of Dust that got set off somehow." Yang mused, teasing Weiss with her nickname. Though it seemed to have flown over the Schnee heiress's head, as a thoughtful frown appeared on Weiss's face.

"Maybe, but I can't imagine what could have ignited it. Raw Dust isn't anywhere near as volatile as processed crystals or powder. And I'm certain that any Dust deposits that close to the surface and near to Vale would have been found already."

"Maybe it was a meteor instead?" Jaune suggested.

Weiss scoffed, "Frankly, that's about as likely as aliens being responsible."

Jaune looked disappointed at how fast Weiss had shot his idea down, while his partner winced at her words.

"Well, I'm sure the authorities are in route to the..." Pyrrha paused, searching for the right word, "disturbance and we'll find out the cause."

Which, Yang had to admit, was probably how they would find out what they had just seen. Even if they were willing to give up on looking for Blake, she could not imagine Ozpin or Goodwitch allowing them to wander around Forever Fall. And the authorities at Vale allowing a bunch of first-year student huntress to go? Forget it.

"Assuming there's anything besides a crater to find." Weiss concluded.

**-RWBY-**

Paula Ravenwood rolled from where she'd fallen on her side. Moving without thinking, she raised herself up with none of her usual catlike grace. A slim and shapely human woman, she was almost thirty, with dark red-gold hair that reached down to her shoulders. She wore her normal attire: black dress jeans, black boots, a blood-red shirt and equally red leather jacket.

Still dazed, she remained doubled over, gasping as she struggled to get her breath back. The fall had been punishing; hitting the ground had pushed out what little air that had remained in her lungs and made her see stars. Her hands, encased in tight-fitting opera gloves that reached up to her elbows beneath her jacket, rested on her knees. Paula forced herself to take in slow, measured breaths, letting the cool air fill her lungs and ease her racing heart.

Her dark gold eyes flicked to the fallen figure a few feet away, who'd almost gone face-down in the dirt along beside her. Even through her mental barriers, at this close range she could still feel his now-familiar presence. One of the hardest things about explaining what her telepathy could do was when she had to talk about auras, how they felt. It wasn't something she could really describe. But if she had to, the man known as Shaidar Gorthule was like when a cloud covered the sun, dropping everything into shadow.

That was not his birth-name of course; that had been Justin Chapman. But he'd been given what was more than just a new name, but a title and rank, years before the two of them had met. So far as Paula was aware, she was among a handful of people who knew his original name.

Even as she thought this, he unsteadily rose into a sitting position, much like she had. A thick layer of oily material covered his lean form from head to toe. The armor wasn't a solid color, but a motley mosaic made up of small, misshapen black segments on a lighter charcoal background. Several short curved spines of the same bio-metal protruded from the back of his upper arms. Likewise, four similar- if larger-spikes projected from his upper back in vertical pairs: two to each side of his spine.

Through the disheveled strands of her hair, she saw the black armor covering the front of his head flow back. It revealed the familiar face of a man in his late twenties as his head turned, looking at her.

His lean face and short dark hair were ordinary enough to disappear into a crowd with little trouble. His eyes were the lone alien feature on an otherwise-human face, with dark green irises flecked with orange, cat-like slits for pupils and a black sclera. They were eyes filled with intelligence, of someone who missed little of what they saw.

"That was close. You alright?" Shaidar questioned in his mutated British accent.

Even out of breath his concern was clear to hear. Though Paula knew the motion of looking her over with his eyes was a holdover from his old human life, the one he'd had before they'd even met. He could—and probably was— using his cybernetic sensors to examine her from head to toe.

Paula couldn't help but offer the cyborg a little smile. They weren't the most touchy-feely people around and their relationship might not be the most openly affectionate. They still loved each other regardless.

She shrugged, her red-gold hair shimmering with the movement. "I've been better. You?" she asked, still panting a little. Her voice carried a trace of a drawl typical to the American south.

"Tolerable." He coughed as he tried to catch his breath. "Nice thinking back there. I'd say you got us out in the nick of time."

"Thanks. You know what they say— timing is everything." It was a weak quip. She'd all but thrown herself at him in a last desperate measure _and _teleported them both through the portal he'd linked open. All while fighting to hang on to him against the pull of decompression into the vastness of space.

Shaidar's lip twitched into a small smile. "They have indeed."

Getting to her feet, Paula frowned at her outfit, which was covered in a thin grime of dirt. She brushed herself off with gloved hands, making a quick check of her coat pockets and belt. Luckily, she'd landed on her other side, so all three of the glass vials were intact. Likewise, the snub-nosed energy pistol was still in its holster on her belt.

That done, Paula raked her hand unevenly through her hair and got a good view of her surroundings for the first time. Her eyes widened.

"Oh, what the hell have we gotten into now?" she murmured, not without a hint of trepidation.

Overhead, a faint canvas of stars hung in a dark blue sky. All around her, a vast hillside crimson forest stretched into the distance under a morning sun. The cool air was quiet save for the sound of the creaking and groaning of trees. But this wasn't the true cause of her concern.

In the sunlight, Paula could make out a ragged circular clearing around her and Shaidar. It had to be several hundred feet across; about the size of a parking lot. The ground beneath her feet was stripped clear, exposing hard soil. Bare of bark and branches toppled trees littered the ground or lay splinted against a white boulder at the edge of the clearing. Paula only now became aware of the nose-wrinkling stench of ozone mixed in with odors of decaying leaves and earth.

All this radiated out from the central point- where she and Shaidar Gorthule now stood. As if there could be any doubt for the cause of the newly created clearing.

"Well. This is different." Shaidar said, looking around. At five foot eight he was only a little taller than her. A ripple passed through the armor as it changed from its default black to a vivid red and orange autumn forest camouflage pattern. Paula could tell he was trying to be nonchalant, but she knew better. He was worried, just as she was. But they'd both seen and done too much in their lives to let that fear rule them.

"More like the start of a bad horror film." Something caught Paula's attention, and her golden eyes gazed up into the clear sky above. To her left and low above the treeline, a shattered half-moon glowed down, faint and white. Paula's eyes traced over its craters and pockmarks, noting the similarities to others she'd seen on other worlds on its unfamiliar face.

"And I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," She added, causing Shaidar to glance up from the portal device strapped to his left arm.

"Oh dear," he said, peering upwards at the broken alien moon. The action caused a deep orange gleam flickered to life within his eyes, making them resemble a pair of faintly glowing coals.

"You're saying the obvious darling." Her voice was laced with a playful tone that was only slightly forced.

"Little bit," he agreed, looking back to her, the motion making the orange glint in his eyes die. "Can you sense anything out there?"

Lowering her mental barriers for the moment, Paula reached out, scanning for other minds. "No one but some panicking animals in my range, so on the upside we haven't been seen. On on the downside we're definitely in the middle of nowhere. You?"

Unlike herself, Shaidar Gorthule wasn't a telepath. Nor was he a Preternatural—the name used by the few aware of her 'world' and the existence of people born with supernatural abilities.

Shaidar Gorthule was a Techno-mage. Like the rest of his order, his abilities were the result of a network of bio-mechanical cybernetic implants throughout his body. That technology had been created and supplied by an ancient race of aliens known to most as the Shadows. The Techno-mages served the Shadows in variety of ways, but mostly as elite agents, soldiers or some mix of both.

"All's clear on my end too. But I'm getting metal, probably train tracks, and a signal from over there. I'd say it's an automated hazard alert." He said, gesturing towards several of the fallen trees at the far edge of the clearing. Paula thought she could see a metallic glint underneath.

"As for long range," Shaidar Gorthule continued, "I'm detecting a lot of communications traffic from the south west. Almost certainly from a major city, but it's out of scanner range. And we can't stay here; our arrival has been noticed by the locals. Seems we created quite the light-show."

"Damn. Well, if the locals don't like visitors, we'll be busy soon. It was your portal. Any clue where we are?"

"Yes and no," the Techno-mage replied evenly. "From what fragments I can pick up, the city is named 'Vale' and the people of this world call it 'Remnant'. Unfortunately, I've never heard of either before and we're too far out for me to access any computers wirelessly. I don't suppose any of that sounds familiar to you?"

"No, I don't know the names. It...it feels a bit like the Underworld or one of the other pocket Realms might have felt, back home. Not quite the same but... Of that nature, if less so. Other, is the best word I've got, in a magical sense."

"Now that _is_ intriguing, if not what I'd hoped for. At least on the bright side, this place beats the vacuum of space."

Paula knew that, as a Techno-mage, Shaidar had been accused of being an actual wizard, warlock or even less flattering names. When in truth was he and those in the Techno-mage Order simply used technology to emulate magic. Although he rarely said anything about it, she knew that was also why even after almost a year, some part of Shaidar still wasn't used to the idea of what she and her people were capable of. As far as even the Shadows were concerned, Paula's abilities both looked and acted like magic. And he wasn't used to being the one trying to figure out how things worked and he didn't like it.

Of course, as far as Shaidar and his associates were concerned, that didn't make it mystical or magical. Merely a science they hadn't yet been unraveled.

"There is that. Still, this could be complicated. The last thing we need is people figuring out we're outsiders." She grinned, a sharp smile. "Let's hope they don't burn witches or things may get messy."

Paula was far from stupid. She knew how dangerous their situation was and that Shaidar undoubtedly was aware of it as well. They outsiders in a strange world, with no allies or friends to turn to. There were a dozens, if not hundreds of reasons why someone desperate or unscrupulous enough would want to cause them harm or kill them as a potential source of trouble. Not to mention how easy it would be to put a world-wide target on their backs.

Still, Paula refused to let herself be swallowed up by fear.

"For them, I'd think," Shaidar Gorthule commented dryly. "We should get a move on. As much as I don't fancy strolling through a strange forest, I'd rather we weren't here when some spooked and trigger-happy natives start showing up."

Here he glanced down for a speculative moment, before continuing, "Still, all things considered, I think we'll remain on foot for a bit. At least until anyone who does manage to track us will think they lost the trail in the forest. It should be safe enough- I'm not detecting anything dangerous with my scanners. And once we get into the air, I should have an easier time intercepting signal traffic."

"Can't portal us out then?" Paula asked as they started walking between the fallen trunks, their feet leaving almost no impression on the hard earth. Shaidar's armor flowed back over his face while she spoke. Only when it settled into place did he reply.

"Afraid not. The linking device was damaged by our arrival here." He said, referring to the mechanism wrapped around his wrist like an over-sized watch. It was now hidden once more beneath his armor. "In fact, I've shut everything down except diagnostics until I can give it a good look over. Preferably somewhere secure."

His words sent a cold trickle of uncertainty creeping through her gut. She'd never tried to teleport through one of the linking device's portals until now. That they'd ended up here instead of their intended destination and that the device had been damaged in the process meant that both were probably her fault.

In an instant, Paula shook the thought off before it had time to grow. There was no sense in allowing herself to feel guilty or worked up. It wasn't as if she and Shaidar had any other way out back then. And it had hardly been intentional on her part to have them wind up here.

"Well. That is inconvenient. And being only half Cerberi, I can't teleport between dimensions." Not to mention she couldn't teleport them to this 'Vale' city. She'd never been there before, didn't have a line of sight and was certain she didn't know anyone living in it either.

"Assuming this place is like one of your people's pocket dimensions, is it possibl-" His head snapped around, peering out into the forest as his voice dropped off into a sharp whisper. "Unknown contacts inbound!"

His warning came only a fraction of a second before a chorus of guttural and undeniably enraged howls filled the air, along with a cloying and horrific scent.

Paula stopped, turned, her right hand coming to rest on the grip of the energy pistol hanging on her hip. She reached out, scanning with her mind again instead of her eyes. For an instant, she felt, sensed nothing. Then there was a hint of minds that weren't quite minds at all. They were empty, hollow shells. Twisted. Animalistic. Filled with hate. And a yawning, ravenous hunger. Her heart went cold in her chest.

Quick as lightning, a dozen nightmares of black fur erupted from the underbrush at the edge of the clearing. The creatures were in the broad outline of a wolf, if a wolf had aspirations to become human. Each was roughly bipedal, with bodies that were slumped forward as they ran on all fours. Even in the faint sunlight, fangs glistened in muzzles. Burning, hate-filled red eyes glared out of faces masked by bone.

In that instant, Paula lashed out with her telepathy. But she'd never encountered anything quite like this before. Her attack wasn't coordinated enough to do more than disorientate them. Several creatures stumbled, a few even colliding with each other or fallen tree trunks.

Even while they stumbled, Paula was running through her few spell-casting options. She almost drew her pistol, but stopped before she'd barely begun. She had a better idea. These things could well be magical—she'd try an attack on those lines first.

As her hand darted to her coat pocket, the creatures shook themselves, staggering but ready to continue their attack. They never got the chance.

Two dozen bat-winged imps flickered into existence above the creatures. Each was the size of a large dog. Dark copper armor covered much of their gray bodies. Long steel teeth gleamed in crooked mouths. Paula recognized the imps for what they were of course; hard light constructs. Solid holograms of Shaidar's creation. Holo-demons.

Like a swarm of furious hornets, the imps dove on the wolf-creatures. Bear-trap jaws and arms ending in claws or short blades stabbed and tore chunks out of black-furred flesh. Again, the creatures fell into disarray. They shrieked and swatted at the holographic imps, who darted through the air or clung to their enemies as they hooted, hacked and bit.

It was then her searching fingers closed around the distinctly shaped glass vial holding an explosive potion. Paula pulled it out of her pocket, when she felt Shaidar wrap an arm around her waist and pull her close to him. She felt his breath on her cheek. "Hold on," he said in a short, clipped tone.

She felt something shift under her feet. Her gaze flickered down involuntary. She could almost see a rippling distortion under her feet in the shape of a flat, translucent square. The platform looked to be a little over a yard wide and across but only about an inch thick.

Like all Techno-mage platforms, this one was an extension of the 'mage who generated it. So, Shaidar had an instinctive ability to keep his balance through various maneuvers. But, any passenger on the platform—such as herself—had to either hold tight to the Techno-mage or hope for a gentle ride.

As they shot upwards, a guttural snarl ripped her attention back to the fight. The holographic imps were fighting well, but even as Paula looked, one fell prey to a beast's attack. Its body fizzed into nothingness as it 'died'. But that was not what drew her gaze.

One creature was bounding forward, a pair of imps still stubbornly clinging to it. This one was larger than the rest, with scattered white spines protruding from its back and arms. Its eyes, shining with menace, were fixed on her- on _them_.

The platform jerked sideways as the creature leaped for them with claws splayed. Paula drew her arm back, almost whacking Shaidar in the face with her elbow, and threw the explosive mixture right at the creature. More by pure luck than by design, the glass vial hit its face and shattered. There was a cough of an explosion. A burst of pallid green fire. The creature tumbled back down into the dirt with a ragged yelp.

About a dozen feet above the treetops, their ascent stopped. As the platform spun in place, Paula caught a final glimpse of the clearing before it was behind them. Their purpose now served, the holographic imps had dissipated. The other wolf-creatures were now glaring up at them, snarling and scrabbling around under them like dogs who'd gotten a cat up a tree. The larger creature she'd hit was getting to its feet. It was still smoldering, with large swaths of fur and skin burned away.

Then the creatures were gone, left behind as she and Gorthule flew out over the forest. The whole fight had only lasted a handful of seconds.

"Sorry for that," Paula said, almost absently to Gorthule. His armor had returned to its default black color. "So a little like Hadean demons—well, obviously not but in theory, could be similar. That's a bit of useful information."

"It's fine," he replied, "But I'd rather you hadn't done that."

"I just wish I'd killed the thing." Paula's eyes were still narrowed in thought, the wind ruffling her red hair. She felt more shaken than afraid by what she'd felt from those creatures. There was a pause as the rest of Shaidar's comment registered then. "I thought I only almost hit you?"

"It's not that. I'd planned to get us out and leave behind as little evidence as possible for the locals to puzzle over. If they learn about us, I want it to be on our terms. So the more we can mislead them about our capabilities the better. They can't fight what they don't know. Besides, we would have gained nothing by staying there and battling it out with those creatures."

As Shaidar elaborated, the platform beneath them grew by several feet and darkened to the color of smoke-blackened glass. She'd seen for herself in the past how platforms could be created in various shapes, such as a chair, a chariot and so on. All which would be more comfortable and easier to sit on. But, as he'd explained to her, simple designs were easier to create, maintain and also change to a degree while in use.

"Ah." She wasn't too inclined to apologize, largely since she was a little skeptical that the platform had been moving away fast enough, but it was a potential problem. But it explained why Shaidar hadn't just killed them. After all, bodies and battlefields could be examined. "Better a potion than a phaser then."

Now that she thought about it, Paula realized his decision to use holo-demons had been more than just a way to keep those creatures busy while they escaped. It was another attempted deception on his part. Anyone who investigated would probably think the creatures had been fighting some other animal. Yes, the fight would have still looked odd given the location. But, it might have been enough to allay suspicions. At least for a little while.

"True. Still, it's not your fault. I should have made my intentions clearer before those things showed up. Speaking of which, how well could you detect those creatures back there?" The platform slowed a little as Shaidar let go of Paula's waist and sat down.

"Not very well," Paula said, sitting down as well. "I've never sensed anything quite like them before. Their minds were almost empty. It's like they were some sort of projection. Which explains a little why I didn't sense them earlier." A thought struck her, "Come to think of it, I don't think I saw any of those creatures bleed. Which isn't normal, even for demons."

She'd thrown in that last sentence for Shaidar Gorthule's benefit. When Gorthule's associates had shown up in her universe early in 2010, her people's secretiveness had been directed at them, much like it had been with the rest of the human race. Of course, few people of Earth were aware of the Shadow's true nature as being from another universe. They'd gone to great lengths to hide where they'd come from and instead claimed to be from a distant galaxy.

"Neither did I. And I couldn't get a reading on them with most of my sensors. My motion scanners only picked them up as intermittent contacts and that was at a reduced range. They barely showed up on infrared as well." There was a definite trace of unease in his voice at the end.

Paula fiddled with a knife thoughtfully for a moment, its blade a dulled gray that did not reflect the light, before returning it to it's forearm sheath. "So, we know we're in a preternatural world with the weirdest damn moon I've ever seen. We've got a couple names. And we can't get out, for now."

**-RWBY-**

Ruby followed her big sister into Team RWBY's dorm room, her mind an uncomfortable mess of emotions.

An uneasy silence had descended on the three remaining members of Team RWBY after they'd left JNPR. So that right now, the sound of Weiss' heels clicking on the wooden floor of the hallway was the most noise being made between them.

The strange light they'd seen had been a welcomed distraction from Ruby's worries about Blake and discomfort of lying to JNPR. Although even now, Ruby couldn't shake the feeling that there'd been something _wrong_ about it. Light shouldn't behave like that. Shouldn't be oily and twisted. But no one else seemed to have noticed it. So she'd kept quiet.

With a click, Yang closed the door behind Weiss, her shoulders slumping somewhat. The sight unlocked something within Ruby. It hadn't escaped Ruby's notice that, despite trying to walk with the usual spring in her step Yang had been uneasy the whole way here.

"This _sucks_! We should just tell them, except it might get Blake in trouble, and we don't even know where she is, or if she's coming back," Ruby burst out unable to keep herself contained for any longer, her words coming in a rush. Her eyes felt hot and she forced back what felt like the beginning of tears with a sniff.

Ruby saw Yang take a step forward, but stopped her with a shake of the head. She turned to face her partner, who was watching them with an unreadable expression.

"Weiss, I know she's been gone all weekend, but we need to find Blake," Ruby insisted.

"I'm sure she's fine, Blake's a big girl; she can take care of herself," Weiss said. Yet Ruby thought she could hear concern in her partner's voice.

"Maybe, maybe not. Either way, she's missing and we need to try and find her," Yang retorted, taking a step forward. Her voice and stance showing that what remained of Yang's temper was fraying fast.

"Weiss, she's one of our teammates," Ruby interrupted before her sister and Weiss' argument could continue further, her voice making them turn back towards her. But most of Ruby's attention was on Weiss, trying to make her earnestness show through her expression and silver eyes.

Weiss arched her scarred eyebrow at her. For a moment, it looked like she was going to try and argue. Then, Weiss sighed, her shoulders slumped in resignation. "Alright, I'll help you look for her."

Ruby did not see the somewhat surprised look her sister shot at Weiss.

"Thank you Weiss!" Ruby almost squealed, bouncing into action as she did.

Snatching up a long cardboard tube near the foot of her and Weiss's make-shift bunk-bed, Ruby pulled from it a map of Vale she'd gotten from Beacon's library the other day. Before spreading the map across Weiss's bed. As the map is too big to fit on any of the four small tables in their dorm.

Ruby's stomach twisted in nervous excitement as her teammates gather around her. Pulling one of several cheerios she'd snuck out of Beacon's cafeteria from a pocket, Ruby placed it on the map.

From one side of her, Weiss looked on. On the other, stood her Yang. Ruby couldn't be certain, but she had a feeling Yang was trying to hide a smile.

"Okay, so we'll check out the places Blake likes to hang out at first," Ruby said, moving the lone cheerio with down the streets on the map. She thought of the list of addresses she and Yang had spent yesterday coming up with.

"If she hasn't been to any of those spots, we'll..." Ruby searched her vocabulary and tried to copy Weiss. "_Reconnoiter _any hotels we can find."

Despite whatever arguments they had, she and Weiss where still friends. And she kinda hoped that it'd help make her partner more comfortable with what she had planned. Going by the look on Weiss' face, Ruby could see that she was only somewhat successful.

"Um, Ruby, I don't think hotels are going to tell us who their customers are," Yang pointed out.

"We can always ask right?" Ruby replied, deflating a little. She wondered how Yang knew that- but she was the older sister after all. It made sense she'd know more.

The blonde shrugged. "Might be worth a shot."

"I know it's a little...unorthodox," started Weiss, "but I'd suggest..."

And with that, the three remaining team members of RWBY soon found themselves caught up in discussing places of interest and suggestions.

**-RWBY-**

Surrounded by a crowd of people, Penny Polendina waited patiently for the pedestrian crossing light to change.

Illuminated by the rising sun, the street around her was busy with cars and fellow pedestrians like herself. Although today she was was cataloging a major increase in activity compared to the correlating time on the previous days she'd spent in the city.

Given the grumbling she'd overheard, this activity -and delays, which seemed to be the cause of the grumblings- was _'typical Monday morning [expletive].'_ Few, if any of them, seemed to be putting much thought into the unidentified explosion in the Forever Fall she'd seen earlier.

As she pondered this, the pedestrian crossing light changed color. Penny hurried across the street along with the crowd of people, none of whom gave more than a passing glance at what, to them, seem to be a short, ginger-haired girl with bright green eyes and a freckled face.

It was almost an hour after she'd left that main street behind that a car that pulled up next to her. The vehicle appeared to be an expensive Atlas-designed civilian model, but Penny recognized it and knew that beneath its plain gray exterior it had been heavily modified. Including a reinforced chassis and armor plating.

Likewise, she recognized the man who peered back at her through the open driver's window, an expression of obvious relief on his face, "Penny, please get in."

Climbed inside and closing the door, her hearing picked up the sound of a window rolling shut. Like all those in the car, the driver's window was bullet-resistant and tinted so those outside would have a harder time looking in.

As the car began moving down the road in the direction Penny had been walking towards, the driver spoke up again, "You should know better than to go running around in a strange city." He admonished her.

Penny bowed her head, subdued, "I know, sir. I came back as fast as I could when I heard the explosion."

The man turned his head so he could look at her. His next words where said in a tone that meant to sound reassuring, "That's very commendable of you Penny. And I'm sure your father will be pleased to hear that."

The rest of the ride back to the house where Penny was supposed to be staying at was spent in silence.

* * *

**Chapter Note:**

Read! Enjoy! Review, whether to tell me what you liked or to scream at what you didn't!

I'm very curious to hear people's thoughts so far and how well I portrayed the canon cast and my original characters. For the canon cast, it's very important to me that I got them down right; I'd certainly like to think that I did. After all, if I can't write the characters of RWBY well, it rather defeats the whole point of the story.

As for my original characters, I did my best to put a lot of thought into them. Which is why I've tried to get across that while they might be intelligent, experienced and generally competent, they're not perfect by a long shot and make mistakes. After all, they've _accidentally ended up in an unknown universe. _Which is the very definition of messing up with _**style**_.

As a pair of side notes, Shaidar Gorthule is pronounced 'Shade-are Gore-thule'. Also, while I'm not usually one to recommend music for my stories, but I personally view the track 'Gehn's theme' from a game called 'Riven' as Shaidar and Paula's theme.

And last but not least, the cover art was done by thyBlake over on deviantart for anyone who'd like to check it out.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

* * *

Far across the ocean from the Kingdom of Vale and high over the eastern edge of the continent of Anima, the Mistrali passenger airship _Allure of the Skies _continued its days-long journey towards Beacon Academy.

The _Allure of the Skies_ did not resemble the airships used by Atlas or Vale. Bare brass and steel supports strengthened key portions of its hull. Large canvas sails, ribbed with reinforcements like a fish's fins, had unfolded from the bottom and sides of the vessel. The majority of the ship seemed to be made out of wood- while in truth, the material was layered over the _Allure_'s huge metal hull and was more decorative than functional.

Inside, it's ornate passenger cabins were filled with the chatter of the students from Haven Academy, who were traveling to Vale for the upcoming Vytal Festival.

Within one such cabin, Cinder Fall paused over her meal. Her attention now fixed on a holographic projection showing a Vale News Network report. The anchorwoman, helpfully labeled Lisa Lavender, was speaking.

_[...__Details are scarce at this point __about the __cause of the blast the shook Vale this morning. We have still unconfirmed reports that a Schnee Dust Company rail-line in the area many have been damaged. The SDC has refused to make any comments at this time on the matter...]_

Dimly, Cinder was aware of her two servants, Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai, had caught sight of her reaction and were now watching the news story as well. The majority of her thoughts, however, were focused inward.

Cinder's fingers—her nails painted and manicured—wanted to curl into claws because of the anchorwoman's words. To bunch up the checkered gray skirt she wore. It, along with the black jacket that made up the uniform of Haven Academy, were more conservative than what she preferred.

She and her servants had spent the last three months there, pretending to be students under the watchful eye of its headmaster, Professor Lionheart. The same man who'd provided Cinder with the papers that had allowed them to pose as students in the first place.

During those long months, Cinder had comforted herself with the thought that all the play-acting would be worth it. Beacon would fall and when it did she would learn where Ozpin was hiding what remained of the Fall Maiden.

There had been times where she could almost taste victory and couldn't wait to finally clutch it with her own two hands.

Now her careful mask of calm was being eroded away. No plan ever survived contact with the enemy, she knew, but this was unexpected. Her mind startled tumbling through possibilities, even as she returned to eating.

Was Roman behind this? Could the White Fang have somehow slipped from her control in the months she'd been gone?

Cinder choked her fear down with effort. Neither of those were possible. The White Fang had everything to gain by following her commands. And like Roman, they knew what would happen to them if they disobeyed. Besides, for all his moments of flamboyance, Roman was more interested in making money over headlines. It was part of why she'd procured his services in the first place.

Cinder felt the return of her old confidence. This event could be made to work in her advantage. The spreading of fear and paranoia had always been part of her plan.

On the other hand, this could provoke a reaction beyond what she wanted at this time, so there was a potential, no matter how small, of this backfiring.

"So... the plan is still going ahead, right?" ventured Mercury, breaking the stillness of the cabin.

Clicking off the projector with delicate press of a button on the remote, Cinder rose, turning to face him. She took in the scene before her with a glance of her pale, golden eyes.

Mercury was leaning back on his chair, gray hair disheveled as normal, regarding her warily. Sitting in a nearby chair, Emerald was also watching Cinder.

The fourth member of their team of faux-students, Neopolitan, had left several days prior. She'd gone ahead to help Roman pull off the planned Dockyard heist. The earlier Dust robberies had been done with cars and other ground vehicles, as without Neopolitan's illusions to hide behind, Bullheads would be spotted and heard long before they could escape with the stolen Dust.

"Yes," Cinder replied, using her usual assured lilting tone. "We'll need to make some changes, but the plan will still proceed."

_I __will__ be strong. I __will__ be feared. I __will__ be powerful. I will __**never**__ be weak again._

The thought was almost enough to make her ignore the remaining clammy tendrils of fear around her heart.

**-RWBY-**

Meanwhile, as the afternoon sun shone down on the sweltering streets of Vale, Weiss Schnee couldn't help but regret her choice in footwear, which was now dusted with dirt. Her white boots, an expensive Atlesian design with wedge heels, had been chosen for comfort that belied their ball-room appearance. Despite that, walking around almost all day meant Weiss's feet were aching something awful.

Weiss wasn't as sure that she regretted her decision to come along this morning.

_"Blaaaake!"_ Yang shouted from besides her as the three teens passed into one of the many shadows that fell across their path from the buildings that lined the street.

Weiss had spent the last two days in quiet emotional turmoil. She'd been worried about her father finding out about what happened and using it as an excuse to pull her out of Beacon. All while she and her teammates had struggled with the revelation of Blake's identity.

To be blunt with herself, Weiss had agreed to come along out of both worry and frustration over the whole situation. She'd been too tired to argue with Ruby and Yang. She'd felt the need to take action, the desire to do something. It was either that or fret the whole time at Beacon about a person who she may or may not hate. But her pride and her anger at the White Fang wouldn't allow her to come out and admit that. Until Ruby's pleading had just given her an out to go along with the search.

Weiss's stomach let loose a low growl, reminding her of the lateness of the hour. It'd been a little after one o'clock when the three of them had stopped to eat lunch at a small diner. Even as they'd ordered a small meal, Yang had tried asking some of the less-preoccupied employees if they had seen Blake. All she received was shaking heads.

"Blaaaake!" Ruby called out, cupping both hands up near her mouth.

Not for the first time that day, most people continued to go about their business, some pausing to give the three teenagers curious looks. Others went about with faces that were pale and worried. They traveled in small groups of twos and threes. Almost all of the groups were human.

The few Faunus Weiss could see around walked alone or in pairs. They seemed all too aware of the stares and wary looks they were getting from the groups of humans. Reactions were equal between hunched shoulders or studious ignorance.

Here and there, Weiss could hear people speaking with each other in voices that were little more than low murmurs.

"_...bit overkill for just some train tracks."_

"_What are you saying? They didn't mean for it to blow up?"_

"_How'd they get so much Dust out in the middle of Forever Fall like that?"_

"_I'm saying, it makes more sense for them to be storing it there. Either to take it away to __Menagerie__ or god knows where else. But something must have happened and it all get set off early."_

"_Nah, the bastards probably wanted to hijack a train, load it full of Dust, send it back to the city and blow up the rail yard. I remember hearing something months back that the White Fang robbed a Schnee train for Dust."_

"_You don't need something that powerful to wreck a railway. Hell, wouldn't make more sense to rip up the tracks with crowbars and what have you, then run off and wait for the train to derail and have no one know about it until they can swoop in and take everything that isn't nailed down..."_

It wasn't the first time that she'd heard talk like that. Once news had gotten out that the mysterious explosion had damaged a Schnee Dust Company rail line, it hadn't taken long for people to start suspecting the White Fang for being the cause. It also hadn't taken very long for people to start guessing at why the Fang had so much Dust out there.

A selfish part of her was glad that no inquiring individuals, who recognized her or saw the crest of the Schnee Dust Company on the back of her bolero, had tried asking her questions.

And yet, Weiss could see that there were some people who seemed to be taking some measure of reassurance from the sight of the three Student-Huntresses. If that was so, she could understand why given what had happened. Not for the first time in the past few minutes, Weiss thought about thumbing through the daily news on her Scroll for updates or any messages from Winter or the SDC.

"_Blaaaaaaaake! Where aaaare __youuuu__!?" _Ruby yelled as they rounded a corner and began walking down a lightly populated side street.

As a car sped by them, Weiss almost didn't hear Yang mutter under her breath to herself, "This is hopeless."

Weiss found herself agreeing with Yang. Vale was simply too large with too many people. It seemed more and more ridiculous to think they could find their missing teammate in all of that. Weiss had thought that since Blake was a Student-Huntress would make her more conspicuous. Even if the average person on the street might be used to the sight of a Huntsman or Huntress, it didn't mean they didn't stand out thanks to their appearance. As well as the fact that Huntsmen and students of Huntsmen Academies where permitted by law to carry their weapons with them.

Seeming to finally notice Weiss's inattention, Ruby stopped and turned around to address her partner. "Weiiss, you're not helping!" she almost whined, gesturing with both arms, almost imploring her teammate.

At times, Ruby could surprise Weiss with moments of maturity. Other times, such as now, she acted more like a little kid.

Weiss favored Ruby with a look of exasperation, "Oh, you know who might be able to help? The police. We should have gone to them hours ago."

"Ugh, _Weiss_..." Ruby growled between clenched teeth, crossing her arms tight against her chest. That she was so irritated by her words did not escape Weiss. Ruby was just as frustrated as she was. Good. This could be an opportunity to talk some sense into the leader of RWBY and her sister.

That knowledge wasn't enough to keep Weiss from reacting to Ruby's words. Flinging her arms out to the sides for emphasis, she protested, "It was _just_ an idea!"

"Yeah, a _bad_ one," Ruby tossed back, along with another annoyed look in Weiss's direction, before she turned around and continued walking down the pavement.

Moving from where she'd been standing off to one side, Yang followed in her sister's lead and falling into step behind her. "Weiss, I think we should hear her side of the story before we jump to any conclusions."

Despite the gentleness in her voice, Weiss wasn't fooled by it. The hard edge it held betrayed what her words and tone did not. Yang was not really making a suggestion.

Weiss had to stop herself from pointing out that she'd heard Yang say moment ago about how the search for Blake was hopeless. Yang was just making excuses and just didn't want to be the one that crushed Ruby's hopes of finding Blake. Weiss wanted to talk sense into them, not enrage them.

"The innocent don't run Yang. And if we haven't found her by now, we aren't going to. Besides, she might have run off because she knew about what was going to happen today ahead of time," Weiss replied, following behind Yang.

"You really don't care if she's innocent, do you?" Yang asked, her voice rising.

"Don't be stupid; of course I do," Weiss was honestly insulted, "I'm just afraid of what she'll say if we find her," which was the truth. She did care. But the mounting evidence was enough to put Blake's innocence in serious doubt so far as Weiss was concerned."You heard what she said. She could have been sent to Beacon to spy on everyone."

Ruby whirled around in a blur, leaving Weiss to wonder if the younger girl had used her Semblance. That though was pushed into the back of her mind at the glare Ruby was giving her. "Weiss, Blake is our teammate. She deserves a chance to explain. As her friend, as her leader it's my responsibility to give it to her. So we're going to keep looking."

Weiss was startled into silence. This was new. She'd never been under the illusion that Ruby didn't have a backbone to her. But even as leader of team RWBY, she still tended to fade into the background on occasion. More often than not, this meant letting Yang take the spotlight.

"Come on, we need to keep looking before it gets dark." Ruby continued over Weiss's surprise. She saw Yang give Ruby a sisterly look of approval as the pair resumed walking.

Helpless, Weiss followed them. As she lagged further and further behind in thought, the more her emotions in her chest festered. Chief among them being anger, resignation and bitter disappointment. The comparative silence was broken only by the click of her heels on the pavement.

Weiss' train of thought came to a sudden end as a shop door in front of her swung open. The thick glass smacked against the side of her head. Caught off-guard, in mid-step and in high-heels, she fell, knocked onto her back.

Dazed, Weiss lay still for a second, gazing at the brilliant blue of the afternoon sky. When she recovered enough presence of mind to start sitting up, a hand appeared in her field of vision, reaching down towards her. It was covered in, of all things, a black opera glove that reached up towards its owner's shoulder.

At that instant, she heard an unfamiliar woman's voice, "Hey, are you alright?"

Weiss looked up. Bending over her was a golden eyed, red-haired woman in a plain black shirt and pants. Weiss guessed her to be around Winter's age, if a little older.

In the shadow of the store behind the woman, stood an almost nondescript dark-haired man in jeans and a dark green shirt. Both he and the redhead held several of shopping bags in one of their hands.

**-RWBY-**

"Hey, are you alright?" Paula asked, bending forward to offer her hand as the white-haired teenager propped herself up. Shaidar stood alongside her. As had been the case when they'd first entered Vale, the Techno-mage's form was hidden behind a full-body hologram to hide that he wasn't totally human. They'd done some shopping earlier in the day, but had taken a break to freshen up and to avoid running themselves into the ground, before resuming.

A look of confusion flashed across the girl's pale blue eyes and delicate, almost aristocratic face. At the girl's waist was a rapier, with what looked like a large revolver cylinder built into its hilt. Thanks to how she'd fallen, it'd been almost pushed out from where it was tucked into the girl's belt.

Paula could sense that the girl's Aura had been unlocked. Though how strong it was, Paula couldn't tell. Like all Auras, unlocked or not, it felt almost-but-not-quite unrecognizable as magical. Which was unique to her despite her exposure over the years to various forms of magic as a Cerberi.

The Cerberi were a breed of magic users who served the Preternatural faction known as the Hadean Throne. They were an upper class, but some worked as hired guns or mercenaries to leaders of the Underworld. Save for their alliance to the Throne, their roles made them the mirror-image of the Guardians that served the Aegis.

Despite her telepathic shielding, if Paula hadn't been distracted by her conversation with Shaidar, she might have realized that the girl had been walking by. The teenager had been projecting a fair amount of anger before the door had opened.

Those brief touches she'd received were enough for Paula to get a feel of the girl's telepathic signature. The teenager felt like cracked ice. Strong, but brittle and quick to anger if pushed in the right place.

For all of Paula's years of experience and her adopted mother's lessons, she'd never had the best control when it came to her mental shielding, so she couldn't block out strong emotions or thoughts.

As a result, instead of a teeming anthill of mental activity, she lived with the occasional thought or dozen from people around her making it past her shielding to babble in the back of her mind. It was like staying in a hotel room where she could, on occasion, _just_ hear the people talking next door. She wouldn't lie and claim it wasn't a small part of why she loved Shaidar. Around him, she could relax her guard at least a little and not worry about easily picking up on his thoughts.

As for the white-haired girl, the stunned mix of surprised confusion Paula had seen on her face was giving way to a different set of emotions. Though not quite to the point where the redhead could detect more than a bare whisper of them.

Not taking Paula's offered hand, the girl started getting to her feet. When she spoke, her voice was stiff with bruised pride, "I'm fine, thank you."

Shrugging, she withdrew her hand as the teenager adjusted the rapier that hung at her side. A scowl flashed across the other girl's face at the sight of smudges of dirt on her dress.

Before the white-haired teenage girl could finish standing up or say anything, Paula heard a pair of concerned female voices cry out, "_Weiss!"_

The embarrassed pink flush on the teenage girl's face darkened a few shades as she spun in the direction of the voices. This time the red headed Cerberi detected a sharp flare of embarrassment and flinty irritation through her mental shields.

A pair of teenage girls were approaching the trio at a half-run- a younger girl with a red cloak, followed by an older blonde. Given the distance between the two groups, Paula guessed that Weiss had fallen behind the other girls and it'd taken them a moment to realize what had occurred.

Like with Weiss, Paula sensed that the two girls had their Auras unlocked. But besides Aura, there was something else that she was picking up. That _something_ both intrigued and worried her.

"Are you okay?" the younger girl asked as she and the blonde drew to a halt.

"I'm _fine_ Ruby. I'm not made of glass," Weiss replied, sounding exasperated. But beneath it, Paula could detect an undertone of _I'm not helpless _in her voice. She was more than sure Shaidar picked up on it as well.

Between the weapons, choice of brilliantly colored clothing and age, it didn't take any sort of genius to realize what the three teenagers were. They were Huntresses. Well, Student-Huntresses, given their age. Shaidar had been quite informative about them, as he had with many other basic facts of Remnant.

Next to Dust, it was Aura that intrigued Paula the most. And not just from the fact that the Remnans could track Aura levels electronically on their version of a mobile phone. Like Aura, magic always drained something, if one used enough of it. This was true in particular when it came to active powers. Making Aura sound to her like a magic system primarily based on active powers. So most Huntsmen tended to be more conservative with it's use to avoid running out of it in the middle of battle.

On the subject of Huntsmen, he'd been very emphatic that they were warriors, not soldiers. At least outside of the Atlasian Specialists. Paula personally thought _'glorified mercenaries' _might be the more accurate description. She'd said as much to him too, and commented that the _'whole system sounded open to all sorts of abuse'_. Which Shaidar had found entertaining and agreed with her on.

As for them, she and Shaidar agreed that if forced into combat against the more powerful and experienced Huntsmen, having fear, surprise and intimidation on their side would be best to ensure they would have a clear certainty of winning. That Aura had to be called up in order to protect a Huntsman made them particularly vulnerable to ambushes.

Quirking a brow as the three girls descended into a conversation of their own, Paula exchanged glances with Shaidar. He shrugged and jerked his head off to one side. Seeing the girls were likely going to ignore them, they turned to leave.

"Hey do you guys have a minute?" a voice called after them. Turning back, Paula saw it was the blonde teen. There was a look of determination in her purple eyes. At this close, Paula realized the blonde was an inch or two taller than herself and was about Shaidar's height. "Just need to ask you something real quick...it's important."

"Sure, go ahead." Shaidar said, his voice encouraging. While Paula nodded her own assent.

"We're looking for friend of ours, she's our age. Long black hair, amber eyes, kinda broody," the blonde pointed at her head, a look of uncertainty flashing across her face for a moment, "has a black bow on top of her head? You two wouldn't happen to have seen her? Just a sec, I've got a picture."

The other two girls had stopped their conversation and were giving the blonde a look of concern. Paula also caught a glimpse of a windblown tangle of thoughts and feelings from Weiss.

As much as she might want to know what the whole story here was, Paula wasn't the type to start looking into people's heads out of mere curiosity.

By now, the blonde had fished out a Scroll from a pocket and was holding it out for them to see. On the screen was an image of the four girls in a selfie-style group photo. Three of them were the teenagers they'd just met. The fourth was the girl that the blonde had just described, with a small but happy smile on her face. Although her outfit was one of the oddest Paula had seen, which said quite a bit. It looked like a tuxedo that'd stumbled it's way through a women's lingerie section.

Besides her, Paula saw Shaidar slowly shake his head and she could feel the deep disappointment from the three girls. The glimpses she'd gotten of their mental signatures blossomed into full clarity in her mind.

Paula sensed that, despite the bad news she'd just heard, Ruby's telepathic aura was like a summer breeze. Bright, with an underlying earnestness and optimism for the world. To an extent that Paula found almost gratingly naive.

As for the blonde, Paula could feel a fiery passion that billowed like an open furnace. Protective and also consuming of anything that threatened those the blonde cared about.

"Are you sure?" Paula asked him, searching her memories. "Didn't we see her almost an hour ago with a Faunus? A blonde one that looked like a surfer dude?"

"You know, I think your right," his voice was low, thoughtful.

There was a sudden cocktail of triumph mixed with sadness from Weiss that splashed against Paula's mental shields like venom. If Paula had to put it into words, it would be_ 'Why did I have to be _right_?'_. But just as quick, Weiss' reaction was buried under the emotions of the other girls.

"Really?!" that was Ruby, perking up like an excited puppy. An eager gleam appeared in her silver eyes. With it, came a resurgence of that almost endless optimism that Paula had an instinctive distaste for.

"Where were they?" asked the blonde at almost the same moment, giving off a momentary flare of relief and hope, though unlike Ruby she was trying to temper these feelings.

Paula paused, thought. "I think it was a street or two over?"

"That sounds right." Shaidar answered her. Then to the teenagers he said, "I believe they were heading towards the docks."

For a moment, Paula wondered if Ruby was going to _hug_ either her or Shaidar. Instead, Ruby grinned and said "Thank you!" with that she took off with a "Come on!"

The blonde followed after her, as did Weiss with a cry of "Hey! Wait up!"

"You're welcome!" Paula shouted. Besides her, Shaidar called out, "Good luck finding your friend!"

As the three girls vanished around a corner, Shaidar turned to face her.

"Well, that was different," he said, shifting the shopping bag from one hand to another as they began walking away.

"In more ways than one," Paula mused, keeping her voice low. Sure the street might almost be empty, but that was no reason to throw caution aside. "Besides Aura, I picked something unusual from Ruby. Some sort of magic that felt more like the kind I'm familiar with."

"Are you certain?" he asked, his voice also low. Before she could answer, he said, "No, of course you are. Forget I asked. Do you have any idea what it might be?"

"I'm pretty sure that it's some sort of active power. Whatever it is, it hasn't been awakened yet. Beyond that, I don't know."

There was a thoughtful look on Shaidar's face and in his illusionary green human eyes. "It's an interesting complication. But not one I think we have to worry about. At least not yet. In the meantime, we have more pressing matters," he shrugged, "I doubt we'll run into any of those girls again anyway."

Despite their original plans, they hadn't been able to find an apartment. Not that they'd had much hope of doing that on their first day here. Especially with the upcoming Vytal Festival.

Of course, it was thanks to Shaidar that they'd managed to integrate into Remnant so quick. It had been one of his stored programs that had been let lose into the CCTN. Inserting the false identities and other necessities, such as a modest bank account full of Lien, needed for blending in with a modern society. All of the forgeries had of course been made to look as if they'd existed for much longer than they really had.

That said there were some limitations to what he could do. If Shaidar kept adding cash in their accounts via hacking, someone would notice sooner or later. And should that happened, their false identities might be able to stand up to some scrutiny, but not for long. They were, after all, just words on digital paper. So, they had to take precautions with their money.

**-RWBY-**

Blake shifted from where she was laying. The concrete roof was not comfortable to begin with. Now a chill was seeping from it through her clothing and exposed midriff. The sound of distant foghorns reached her ears.

Hours had passed since she and her companion had set off for the dockyard. By the time they'd neared the docks, the sun had been a red orb dipping towards the horizon. Still more time had passed while she'd waited. Now the last thin sliver of sunlight had vanished completely, taking with it the last remnants of the oranges and purples that'd colored the sky. The gathering gray fog Blake had noticed not long after arriving at the docks had finished drifting in from the ocean. It was so thick that the rising moon was visible only as a hazy glowing sphere.

Even with a Faunus's night vision, Blake was having a difficult time seeing any great distance. Her hearing, however, still worked fine. Over the slapping of waves against the docks, she could hear footsteps. Beneath Blake's bow, her cat ears twitched and swiveled towards the approaching person.

She was tensing up and getting ready to move when a voice, one she'd become familiar with over the past two days, spoke up.

"Did I miss anything?" asked Sun Wukong, and Blake turned her head to see him land alongside her. The blond monkey-Faunus held with what looked like several green apples.

Unlike herself, Sun hadn't been as willing to wait around. About two hours after they'd climbed to the roof of one of the various warehouses that lined the docks, his patience had given out. So Sun had left to stretch his legs, promising to return soon. He didn't think that the White Fang were going to attack until everyone was gone. While Blake could see his point, she hadn't been willing to risk it.

"Not really," she responded, "They've offloaded the crates from the boat. Now they're just sitting there."

Turning her gaze away from him, Blake looked back down on the area below. Her gaze came to rest on the collection of blue, red, and green shipping containers that filled the dockyard in ordered rows. Each one was the size of a bus and, unsurprisingly, had the words 'Schnee Dust Company' along with white snowflake symbol of the corporation on their sides.

It all reminded her too much of the containers she and Adam had stolen from the Schnee Dust Company train they'd infiltrated. On the same rail-line that's been mysteriously destroyed this morning and had caused so much unease and speculation.

It made her uneasy. It was as if her past was nipping at her heels. It made her think back to the days before she'd left the White Fang. Before this morning, she'd been almost sure they weren't behind the robberies. But with the explosion in Forever Fall, she wasn't nearly as certain anymore.

"Cool," came Sun's absent-minded reply. Taking one of the green apples, he held it out to Blake, "I stole you some food!" he exclaimed, almost proud.

Blake eyed the proffered apple, before raising an eyebrow and turning her questioning gaze to Sun, "Do you always break the law without a second thought?"

Considering she was trying to prove that all her kind weren't thieves and criminals, Blake wished her fellow Faunus would put more thought into his actions.

"Hey, weren't you in a cult or something?"

Blake glared, her feline ears flattening back in anger beneath the fabric of her bow. As sympathetic as he'd been and as much as she'd enjoyed his company, Sun had a tendency to put his foot in his mouth.

"Okay, too soon." He glanced away from her, metaphorically backpedaling.

Whatever words she might have said next blew away and vanished in the sudden gust of hot air and the roar of turbine engines.

Blake jerked her gaze upwards, just in time to see the bulky shapes of a trio of Bullheads swoop through the fog. Each aircraft had a pair of searchlights attached to their fat metallic bellies.

She stared, distantly aware that Sun, having dropped the apples he'd held, was doing the same. Bullheads were a familiar sight around Remnant thanks to their versatility. So there was no way she could be mistaking them for anything else.

But even with the fog what Blake simply couldn't understand was how they could have gotten so close without either her or Sun seeing them. Not to mention hearing them! It was as if the three aircraft had popped out of nowhere.

While Blake grappled with all this, her eyes tracked the three aircraft as they maneuvered themselves. Fog whirled and swirled as they landed in various open patches of ground throughout the dockyard. Two of them landing near the entrance; as for the third...

Peering over the edge of the roof, Blake watched as that Bullhead settled into the open space opposite of the warehouse she and Sun were on top of. While the roar of engines faded to a dull whine, its searchlights, like those of its partners, died.

A door in the aircraft's side slid open. A boarding ramp barely finished being lowered, when several figures hurried out. An action that was repeated by the other Bullheads seconds later.

Blake felt her heart sink in her chest."Oh no..." she breathed.

Despite the dark hoods they wore, she could make out the fanged steel masks covering the upper portion of their faces. Like the identical masks, they all wore the same uniform; a white jacket that was matched by black underclothing and pants. All of them carried weapons in their hands or belted to their waists; melee weapons of various designs and assault rifles. Here and there, antlers or Faunus ears poked through the top of hoods. Others had tails or hands covered in reptilian scales.

But it was the symbol on the back of their uniforms that drew Blake's eyes.

"Is that them?"

"Yes... It's them," she answered, her voice filled with quiet anguish.

It was impossible for her not to recognize that mark; a crimson wolf's head with three jagged scars running down its face. The symbol of the White Fang.

"You really didn't think they were behind it, did you?" Sun asked, giving her a look of concern.

Even while she looked on, orders were being barked out. More than half the men and women hurried back towards the Bullheads and began unloading thick steel cables from the aircraft's rear compartments. While the remainder started spreading out, some heading towards the landwards entrance and others taking up guarding positions around the Bullheads.

"No. I think deep down I knew." She shut her eyes, unable to stand the sight any longer."I just didn't want to be right."

"Keep it moving people!" A new voice ordered and Blake's eyes snapped open.

Stepping from one of the Bullheads was a man wearing not the uniform of the White Fang, but a white suit and a black bowler hat. Gesturing with the cane he held in one careless hand, he continued,"We're not the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves right now. So make sure you anim...**people** keep up the pace!"

That almost-slip of the tongue removed any thoughts Blake had about him being a Faunus who'd chosen to hide whatever non-human features he had beneath his hat or other clothing. What made the scene below all the more surreal to her, was that the Faunus didn't object or make any sort of protest. Instead, they hurried on with whatever they'd been doing before.

Blake shook her head, stunned. "This isn't right. The White Fang would never work with a human." She stood, drawing Gambol Shroud from it's sheath. "Especially not one like _that_."

The White Fang might not have been a dream when she'd left, but things must have gone seriously wrong since then. Why else would they be taking orders from with someone like that?

_"Hey, what are you doing?" _Sun hissed.

Ignoring him, Blake jumped off the roof, her Aura cushioned her landing when she landed on a hand and knee. The she was hurrying towards the stack of crates that lay between her and the thieves.

Drawing closer, she slowed to a cautious prowl as she slipped through the rows of containers. Blake knew she needed to be careful. Besides having better night vision than humans, many of the White Fang shared her enhanced Faunus sense of hearing.

This wasn't about finding out if the White Fang were responsible or not for the robberies anymore. She'd run away from Menagerie, refused to listen to her parents. She'd run away from Adam; from the White Fang. And now Blake had run away from Beacon and Team RWBY. From her friends.

Whatever was happening here, she wasn't going to run away from it. And from what she'd seen, there was only one person and one way to make him tell her what was going on here.

"No, you _idiot_!"

Peering around the blue bulk of a container, Blake heard the human snap off another insult. She saw him standing in-front of a hapless Faunus, hands and cane held behind his back.

"This isn't a leash!" he continued with a sneer, referring to a length of cable that the masked Faunus man carried.

The insult burned hot in Blake's ears. Taking advantage that his back was to her, Blake moved. In a burst of speed she was on him. One hand went to grab the back of his suit, the cloth bunched in her fist. The other held the edge of Gambol Shroud at his throat.

"What the-?!" The human stiffened, startled. Blake could make out his dark green gaze darting down to the black blade, before getting a glimpse of her through the red bangs that covered one eye.

Across from Blake, there was a clatter. The Faunus had dropped the cable he'd been holding. His hands fumbled for the pistol at his belt as he shouted for help. Now a half-dozen nearby Faunus were hurrying forward, weapons at the ready.

The human stank of tobacco. "Oh for fu-"

"Nobody move!" Blake snapped, interrupting his exasperated words. His reaction and lack of fear hadn't escaped her, but she had more important things to consider. Around her, the Faunus who were surrounding them slowed to a halt. None of them lowered their weapons.

For a split-second, the Student- Huntress looked at them in disbelief. They'd actually come to the defense of the man who had just been degrading them.

Releasing her grip on the fistful of suit, Blake's hand lifted towards her head and tugged her bow off in one easy motion. Revealing the two furry black cat ears beneath the bow she always wore.

Her Faunus ears exposed to view, she spoke in a voice loud enough to be heard across the docks, "Brothers of the White Fang! Why are you aiding this scum?"

The masks couldn't hide their surprise or the uneasy glances some of them exchanged. The weapons being pointed at her were lowered. It was obvious they hadn't expected any opposition from a fellow Faunus. Much less one who apparently has some ties with the Fang.

With what she'd seen, could this whole thing be some sort of mistake? Now that they knew she was one of them, maybe she could find out what was going on here. Or convince them to stop.

Any faint hope she might have had was shattered by a chuckle from her captive. "Oh kid, didn't you get the memo?" he asked. Blake could see the edge of an easy grin on his lips. It was unsettling how calm the man was, as if he wasn't being held hostage with a blade to his throat.

"What are you talking about?" she demanded, drawing on her anger, hoping it would shake his confidence at least a little. Her grip tightened on Gambol Shroud.

The human didn't even flinch, "The White Fang and I are going in on a joint business venture together."

"Tell me what it is or I'll put an end to your little operation," she threatened.

He laughed, "Why? You think a little bow on top is gonna make people forget who you were? What you've done...?"

"Shut up!" Blake hissed, feeling her feline ears drawing flat.

"Oh, we won't forget," said a deep, somewhat accented male voice.

Blake felt her eyes go wide as something icy settle in her chest. She _knew_ that voice. Even as the realization settled in, Blake jerked herself and the human around so that her hostage was shielding her from the new arrival.

Stepping around the row of shipping containers was a towering giant of a man. Beneath the bristles of black hair, a white mask marked with red designs on the cheeks and eyes covered his face. Yellow eyes glared at her through it's eye-slits. Like those of a wolf. Horribly familiar tattoos wrapped around bare arms that were thick with muscle. In his hands he carried a massive industrial-grade chainsaw, almost longer than Blake was tall.

Save for the heavy gray breastplate covering his chest, 'Lieutenant' Garnet Hendee was as Blake had seen him last. The wolf Faunus, having joined the White Fang soon after his tail had been hacked off by a group of humans, had run the White Fang cell in Vale for years and was Adam's right hand man. As evidenced by the tattoos he wore; they'd been copied from the ones on Adam's mask. Blake realized he must have arrived on one of the other Bullheads.

"She's a coward and a traitor. Without any right to call us 'brothers'," Garnet continued, his voice scornful.

Still startled by the wolf Faunus' sudden appearance, Blake didn't notice how the tip of the human's cane had discreetly come to point at her feet. Until the ground beneath them exploded.

One moment, Blake was flying head over heels through the air. Next she knew, she slammed into the ground, Gambol Shroud skittering away across asphalt. Now on her hands and knees, she shook her head, struggling to get up. Her ears ringing with a high-pitched whine from the explosion, she almost didn't hear the roar of the chainsaw, or the pounding footfalls charging towards her.

Blake barely had enough time to throw herself into a roll. She felt a tugging at her scalp as the whirling chainsaw teeth bit into her long black hair. Claiming a ragged chunk off near her right elbow. Garnet gave a savage growl, and the blade swung at her again. And again.

Each time Blake was forced to roll away, aware that Garnet was driving her away from her fallen sword towards the rest of the White Fang and the human, who'd picked himself up from the ground. The explosion hadn't treated him well either.

When the next blow came, she was ready. Tapping into her Aura, Blake twisted into a series of handsprings. As she tumbled away, Blake heard the tone of the chainsaw change to a snarl. And caught a glimpse of an afterimage created by her Semblance collapse to the ground before fading away. It'd been sliced in half at the waist.

Blake scooped up Gambol Shroud's blade as she finished her acrobatics and forced down a shudder. She might have practiced and studied her Semblance as soon as she discovered it. Honed it to the point that activating it was as second nature as blinking. However, it was still unnerving to see a copy of herself perish. Knowing that even with her Aura, if she hadn't been fast enough, it could've been her.

A yell and a cry of anger drew her eye back to Garnet. Having turned to chase after her, the wolf Faunus was staggering forward. In an instant, Blake saw the cause. A familiar figure was leaping away from where he'd delivered a dropkick into Garnet's head from behind.

_Sun!_

Blake took a step towards them before she'd realized what she was doing. Even as she did, the monkey-Faunus' jump had transformed into a series of flips that ended with him on his feet, a red-gold staff in hand and standing between Garnet and herself.

Any further thought or observation was pushed aside as three things happened at once.

Sun, his back to Blake, spat; "Leave her alone!"

Garnet, his attention now on Sun, began to circle him. Blake knew he was trying to force Sun to attack him, or move with him and have Sun expose his back to the gathered White Fang.

As the two Faunus began to fight, Blake caught sight of the human pointing his cane at her, it's base flipping open to reveal an aim sight. She was already moving when there was a loud bang, followed by a high-pitched whistling. With Garnet no longer in the line of fire, the human had decided to take matters into his own hands.

Leaping into a backflip, Blake felt heat against her back as a brilliant red flare arced past her. It didn't have time to explode against the asphalt before the sound of further flares being fired had her frantically zigzagging towards the nearest gap in the stacked cargo crates. Each miss pockmarked the docks with more craters.

Dodging two more shots, she could feel the heat and pressure of each explosion sapping a little more of her Aura's protection. She was almost there. Escape was so close…

An explosion at her heels caused Blake to stumble. She could hear the whistling of another flare shooting towards her. There wasn't time to dodge. Letting her stumble become a fall, Blake watched as the projectile screamed overhead to slam against one of the Schnee-branded cargo containers a short distance in front of her. Then Blake's world vanished in a flash of light and a thunderous roar.

* * *

**Chapter ****Notes:**

Oh Cinder, I have such plans for you...

To explain any confusion, Paula's bit about Aura and how huntsmen using it conservatively in battle is my attempt to get a sort of middle ground between the over-the-top fights from the first three Volumes and what we've gotten in later Volumes for this story. As well as to explain why, even in the early volumes, the capabilities of various Huntsmen seem to fluctuate somewhat from scene to scene. I am NOT trying to nerf Huntsmen and Huntresses.

Also, I might have just killed Blake. _Oops_.

* * *

I'd like to give my warmest thanks to everyone whose not only favorite'd and followed this story, but left comments as well. I really appreciate that you guys and gals enjoy my story; it means a ton to me. Now onto answering reviews!

**To Dracus7**

I'm afraid to say that this won't be a story with original characters getting into a relationship with the main characters in RWBY. For starters, the age difference between my OC's (in their late 20's and early 30's) and Team RWBY would make any such relationship rather creepy. Also, Shaidar and Paula are already romantically involved with each other. On a final note, I'm not particularity interested in writing that sort of story. I hope this won't kill your interest for the story.

Why thank you very much! I'm quite happy you think so highly of my characters. I hope you continue to do so and that I continue to live up to your expectations as a writer. I'm rather like you in that I'm generally not a fan of original characters in fanfiction because how poorly they tend to be implemented.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

* * *

**A Short While Earlier…**

Paula's eyes flickered from her Scroll; one of a pair she and Shaidar had bought earlier in the day.

Through a nearby window, she saw night had fallen outside the hotel room she and Shaidar Gorthule had rented. Located within Vale's Industrial district, the room faced towards the nearby seaward dockyards. Although spartan and inexpensive, they'd made sure the room was in good condition before renting it.

The sound of a movement drew her attention to where Shaidar had risen from small table in the corner of the room and was making his way towards her. For the past hour, he'd been carefully opening up his damaged Linking Device with the tools they'd bought. Both to avoid causing any further damage and to avoid setting off counter-measures built into the device.

Given that Shaidar had a digital copy of the blueprints, opening up the scanner-dampening covering would be enough for him to get a reading with his sensors and compare the results.

Unable to help him and with nothing better to do, Paula had spent her time familiarizing herself with the Scroll. Which hadn't proven too difficult. Even if she still wasn't comfortable with how over-designed and fragile the mobile phone seemed to her eyes.

"So how bad is it?" Paula asked, putting her Scroll down on the small bedside table.

"Very. Parts of the Linking Device have been almost completely fried." Shaidar settled beside her on the king-sized bed.

Since they were no longer in public, he'd dropped the illusion that gave him a wholly human appearance by hiding his eyes and their vertically slitted pupils. Although he still wore the clothes they'd bought in Remnant. The black uniform, with it's golden accents and rank collar pins with the image of a black hand, that he'd worn under his bio-armor when they'd arrived on Remnant was stored in a box under their bed.

"Any chance you can fix it?"

Paula was aware that her lover did have some technical know-how, but it wasn't his area of expertise. That said, being part Shadow as a result of genetic manipulation, Shaidar Gorthule had what he'd called a 'watered down' version of their vast genetic memory that contained their philosophy, history and technology. But even a cliff-notes version was enough to give him a level of instinctive control over Techno-mage cybernetics that took normal Techno-mages years to learn. Though he'd told her exceptions had occurred.

Shaidar shook his head, "Even if I had the technical skill to do it, Remnant's technology just isn't advanced enough. It'd be both difficult and prohibitively expensive."

"So we're stuck here," she summarized.

"I wouldn't rule out all chance of us being rescued just yet. But even if it comes, we could be stuck here for a very long time," Shaidar told her.

Paula nodded slowly. She wasn't thrilled at being stranded on Remnant, but knew things could be much worse. Already, most of her focus is on making this new situation work. But she still felt a sliver of guilt about her actions having stranded them here. "So what now?"

He took a deep breath, the motion making a deep orange gleam flicker to life within his eyes. Reminding Paula of how the eyes of the alien Shadows always glowed. "I'll have to destroy the Linking Device. My associate's Operation Security is quite clear about ensuring they stay out of the hands of third-parties."

Paula wanted to tell him not to. Even through her barriers and his telepathic defenses, she could sense the sudden spike of discomfort; a quiet fear, an anxiety simmering in the back of his head. She'd also seen the look on his face before, albeit not often. The way his eyebrows furrowed and his very controlled tone told her that destroying the device didn't sit well with him. Doing so would destroy their way home, but for Shaidar it would mean destroying the symbol of the new life he had built.

She knew of that his old life had been torn apart by forces beyond his control. Yet he'd done his best to carry on, trying to live his life in the wake of the alien calamity. It'd been almost a year after the attack that he'd stumbled into contact with the Shadows, the ancient beings who's outlook resonated with his own. He'd joined them and they gave him a new purpose, a new name, a new life that he'd embraced.

He'd been a commander, both on and off the battlefield, a field agent and, perhaps most important of all, an emissary of the Shadows. The last role wasn't unusual- his associates had long used servants from younger races, such as humanity.

What was unusual was the lengths they'd gone to in Shaidar's case. For his role as their emissary had been a key reason behind why, thanks to genetic manipulation, he'd been transformed into a Shadow-human hybrid. Though not the sole reason for that metamorphosis-or the purpose behind it.

Now he would be forced to destroy a symbol of that compact. That it was also a literal link to his patrons, even if damaged beyond easy repair, was salt in the wound.

But even ignoring all the problems the device could cause for them in Remnant, if they were rescued, the Shadows wouldn't be pleased if Shaidar had failed to follow procedure. Paula cared too much to risk that, so she told him what he needed to hear rather than what he'd want to hear.

"Then that's what we need to do," she told him firmly while placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, "a civilization like this getting their hands on the device could be a disaster."

"You're right," he said gently squeezing her hand, "as always. They're at that troublesome threshold of development as a civilization. Smart enough to make use of the technology, but reckless enough to be a danger to themselves. And if by some minor miracle they manage to repair it, others."

"Can't say I see Earth and Remnant being guaranteed to get along either," Paula mused. "A world without Grimm, where they'll be superhuman compared to almost everyone else? It'd look like paradise."

Which was all the more reason why they couldn't risk trying to ask the Remnans for help. Should things go badly, all they'd be doing is walking up and making themselves targets for the rest of Remnant. As Shaidar would say, it was all a matter of relative strength.

"Not to mention that it'll attract attention we don't need. Even broken, its technology obviously isn't native to Remnant."

It was as those words left his mouth when a brilliant flash of light shone through the thin window curtains. Along with a distant rumble as something far-off exploded.

**-RWBY-**

Darkness surrounded Blake Belladonna. For several long seconds, she had no sight and no sound but an awful, high pitched ringing. Then sight and sensation returned to her once more.

Sprawled out on the ground, Blake coughed as the smell of smoke, burning metal and Dust filled her nose. The hiss and crackle of fire made her look up.

Different temperatures hit Blake in waves. Reaction after reaction chasing each other as ice and burn Dust fought each other for victory. From the torn top of the container, spurts of fire mixed with smoke shot skywards into the night sky. While across it's surface, jagged ice crystals formed and melted. Perhaps the mixtures of Dust were some kind of safety feature- Blake didn't know.

Almost all the force of the explosion had been directed upward, leaving only a small hole in the container's deformed sides. But in the process, it'd toppled the containers and shifted the crates around it. Erasing the path between the crates she'd been running towards.

Blake took all this in a split second. She grimaced, blinking her eyes to clear the phantom blotches that filled her vision. The cat ears atop her head pulled flat as those sensitive eardrums rang. Her Aura had done very little to protect them from the painfully loud explosion. The explosion had also thrown her back. Nothing was broken, but her body felt bruised.

As Blake forced herself to her feet, she heard Sun call out her name. And bursts of gunfire filled the air. She whirled, Gambol Shroud in hand and the world threatened to spin around her. Staggering, she saw Sun skid to a stop in front of her. His staff spinning as he deflected the bullets set their way.

Past him, through the veil of black smoke, Blake caught flashes of the attacking Faunus. She couldn't see Garnet, and didn't spend time to wonder how Sun had managed to slip away from him. The sight of the human from before leaning comfortably on his cane made Blake bristle. Whatever was going on here, she knew that he was somehow at the heart of it all.

For an instant, Blake wavered, indecisive. Between Garnet and the rest of the White Fang, they might be getting in over their heads if they stayed and fought. But letting the White Fang escape with Dust would be running away again. Then the moment passed, and she made her decision.

"Sun! Come on, this way!" she yelled.

With bullets hissing through the air around them, she led Sun away from the White Fang. Schnee Dust shipping containers flashed by them as they ran. Trying to jump over them wasn't an option. Even if she and Sun managed to pull off the jump, she didn't want to risk a repeat of almost getting blown up.

Behind her, Blake could hear Garnet bellowing orders. "Team four, with me! The rest of you start loading the Dust like we planned, we need to be out of here before the police and Huntsmen show up!"

At his words, the gunfire died down. She did not turn to look back, instead allowing the man's words to urge her on even more. One way or another, she was going to keep her promise to stop running. If she and Sun were quick enough, they could still reach the Bullheads by the entrance and stop them from loading Dust. Even if there were more Faunus there, being closer to the exit also would give the two of them a better chance to escape.

Unless, a part of her mind pointed out with dread, Adam was here as well. _That_ thought made Blake stumble as they neared the end of the row of shipping containers. Sun shot her a worried look.

Recovering, she reached her left hand over her shoulder to Gambol Shroud's sheath. Now using it as a cleaver-like secondary sword, Blake sprinted around the corner. An instant later, she was batting aside bullets as the White Fang opened fire, with Sun alongside her doing the same with his staff.

Continuing her charge, Blake's eyes darted from one bunch of White Fang to the other. There was no sign of her mentor and former lover in either of the groups by the two entrances to the pier. Blake was so relieved that she almost didn't her Garnet shouting orders. Her head snapped in the direction of his voice.

He hadn't chased after them like she'd thought. Instead, he'd backtracked, leading his group of Faunus around the shorter route to the opposite side of the wall of shipping containers. So that they were now only meters away from her and Sun.

Even as she realized this, the White Fang at the entrance to her front were reacting to their commander's order. They rushed forward, closing the short distance that remained between them and their enemies with melee weapons in hand.

Without breaking stride, Blake lashed out at them with Gambol Shroud's tethered blade. But her range of motion was limited with Sun alongside her. And these weren't Grimm or lightly armored, Aura-less androids. So the sloppy blow did little more than stagger some of the Faunus. And not enough to disorganize them or give her and Sun the openings they needed.

As the two groups slammed together, Blake alternated between slashing away with one blade and using the other to block the attacks being hurled at her. Besides her, Sun had separated his staff into two sets of nunchucks. Spinning them in his hands, he fired shotgun blasts into the crowd of White Fang. The line of masked Faunus bent and for a moment, Blake felt a surge of hope, sure that she and Sun would be able to break through.

Then hope died. Having used the time brought by their brethren to close the gap, Garnet and his group hit her and Sun from behind. Swinging her blades desperately, Blake tried to dance back from the blows that were raining down on her. She heard Sun stop firing. Fear clawed at her for an instant and she risked looking over at him. Not having time to reload, he'd reformed his nunchucks back into a staff.

The sound of approaching Bullheads caught her ears, but she had little time to think about what it might mean before a sword stabbed against her chest. Shocked that she'd gotten so distracted, Blake instinctively tapped into her Semblance and leaped back. She didn't get far. A blade rebound off her neck, draining her Aura further. Spinning, she struck low with Gambol Shroud. Only to find herself forced back as a Faunus with deer antlers stabbed at her from the side.

It was a tactic the White Fang had created for it's rank and file should they encounter Huntsmen or the older creatures of Grimm. Like the pack of beowolves they resembled, they were bleeding her and Sun with numbers and feints. Attacking, then backing off whenever retaliated against and hit from another angle. Try to focus on one of the pack and get mauled to death by the rest. Between their tactics and combined strength, she and Sun were being forced back.

Swaying to the side, Blake brought her curved blade down on his sword. With a hash crack, the cheap and poorly made blade snapped beneath the blow, leaving it's owner to gape in disbelief. That was enough for Blake. A flurry of strikes chipped away at his Aura in seconds and he stumbled back, clutching a bleeding gash in his side. Any shock she might have felt at spilling a fellow Faunus's blood was lost beneath the need to survive.

As she cut, slashed and whirled away from another attack, Blake caught sight of Garnet again. He was prowling around the outside of the ring of fighters, purring chainsaw in hand. She knew he was ready to step in if she and Sun started breaking through, or to intercept them if they tried to escape.

Blake also knew she and Sun could take Garnet if he was alone or with a few people to back him up. He did have some familiarity with her fighting style, as the train robbery hadn't been her and Adam's first visit to Vale. But that knowledge went both ways. Which was part of why he was hanging back. If he charged in, the White Fang would risk getting hit by their own leader.

Hot air buffeted the fight as the two Bullheads she'd heard earlier swooped low overhead. Blake's ears- the set that weren't still ringing- told her that one of them was moving off to land behind the wall of shipping containers. Probably to help the White Fang there secure more Dust, Blake thought with despair. But she didn't have much time to think about it. From her left, Blake glimpsed several more masked men and women jump down to the pavement to join in the fight from an open hatches.

Another shadow-clone and Blake was back at Sun's side. She ducked a swinging ax blade and swung her blades in growing desperation. All around her was chaos. The blows were raining down on her so quickly now and from so many different directions that even her Aura-augmented reflexes couldn't block more than half of them.

The only reason why she and Sun still had any room to move was that their enemies would end up getting in each other's way. Not that it mattered, they still couldn't retreat. It was all her fault for charging in. Now she had to be the one to try and get herself and Sun out of this.

Caught up in the swirling melee, she almost didn't hear the roar of the Bullhead by the other entrance take off. A glance upwards only showed her a glimpse of the aircraft slowly pulling itself into the air, a shipping container dangling beneath it. Before she was again batting strikes aside with her swords.

Then, over the sounds of battle and though the roar of engines, Blake heard something else. Shouts and cries of alarm from where the Bullhead had just taken flight. Followed by the noise of assault rifles spraying gunfire. Busy blocking another strike, Blake didn't dare let her attention waver from the fight right now.

Gambol Shroud blocked another blow, this time to her ribs, with a clank. It was then that the sound of a deeper sounding gun interrupted the chattering of automatic gunfire. A shrill war-cry screamed in an equally familiar voice pierced Blake's ears.

Blake smashed a Faunus on the side of his head with her sword, using the flat of the blade to send him stumbling back. Having gained a few precious seconds, Blake risked a glance in the direction of the commotion. To see one of the Faunus by that entrance get bowled over. His attacker, trailing flower petals behind her, was a red-cloaked teenager holding a large mechanical scythe whose menacing, curved blade was as tall as her.

**-RWBY-**

Rose petals still tumbling after her, Ruby fired the high-caliber sniper-scythe known as Crescent Rose again. This time at the ground. Augmented by a touch of her Aura, the gravity Dust in the high caliber round threw her skyward. Up towards the Bullhead, her flowing red cloak billowed out behind her.

Now airborne, Ruby switched her weapon to it's war-scythe form. Gears within Crescent Rose shifted, hinging the curved blade back. Spinning the scythe in a whirling arc, Ruby flew through the space between the rising Bullhead and it's stolen cargo. The razor-sharp blade sliced through the four cables holding the container to the aircraft in two swift sweeps of steel. Sending it falling two dozen or so feet to the ground, while Ruby continued her dive forward.

With a loud crash, the blue box hit the ground several yards behind and to her left. A heartbeat later, Ruby landed with her beloved weapon back in scythe form and at the ready. But her booted feet scarcely had time to hit the ground before she was moving. Swapping out her weapon's empty magazine for a fresh one as she ran forward. Towards Blake and the monkey Faunus she'd recognized as the stowaway from days before.

"Team seven! Kill her! _Kill her!" _snarled the deep voice of a towering man who carried a massive chainsaw. Ruby saw several of the White Fang react to his command and start towards her. His voice also snapped a handful of his goons who'd been frozen in surprise at her sudden appearance back into action.

A sense of _recognition _from a Dust-shop months ago hit Ruby as she heard a rising whistling sound from her right. A glance showed her a bright red flare screaming towards her. She pulled the trigger of Crescent Rose, her sweetheart flinging her to the right. As she was thrown into a new direction, the flare shrieked by her to slam into the empty space where she would have been standing. Still, the near-miss was close enough. Ruby felt it the heat and shock eat into her protective Aura.

Regaining her footing, Ruby spared a glance in the direction of where the flare had come from, only to glimpse a man she recognized as Roman Torchwick turning tail towards a half-hidden Bullhead. But that was only for a moment as she turned her attention towards the goons who'd been sent her way.

As a Huntress, her focus was on fighting the Creatures of Grimm. Not people. But in combat a lot of the same rules still applied. Still, her first instinct with fighting people was to hold back rather than kill. At least if she could help it.

Falling back on an old strategy, Ruby sprang forward, blurring an erratic path from opponent to opponent. Between using the recoil of firing and the weight of her weapon, she performed acrobatic feats that would be impressive enough without the added speed of her Semblance. She'd used it to get close to the docks in order to avoid being heard, only switching to Crescent Rose once she'd been seen.

Even as the air began to grow heavy from the scent of dust-powder and roses, she caught glimpses of the blond Faunus and Blake getting pushed back. The big Faunus who'd been hanging back shouting orders had joined the fighting. The giant chainsaw he used as a weapon made it difficult for him to land a hit against the more nimble Blake. Or for his goons to directly assist him. But each sweeping attack was making Blake dodge or give ground. But that wasn't all.

Even as a blow from the blunt side of Crescent Rose sent one of her opponents flying, Ruby saw a goon charge at Blake when she backed away. Forcing Blake to divide her attention and use her Semblance to keep from getting pinned down. The monkey-Faunus was trying his best to keeping the White Fang goons away from Blake. But there were too many of them and he could only be at one place at a time. To make matters worse, every time he tried to help Blake, he'd get attacked from several directions.

Speeding towards another goon, she swept him up with her scythe. Before bringing Crescent Rose around again, knocking him back to the ground. From behind her came a hoarse roar of anger. A pull of Crescent Rose's trigger, and Ruby hurled aside at dizzying speed.

Her opponent, one of the goon that Ruby had taken out earlier, charged after her. The woman's mask had been knocked aside, letting Ruby see a pale face freckled with green scales. She slashed with her sword, but Ruby was already moving, stabbing Crescent Rose into the ground. The other's red eyes went wide as Ruby used scythe's haft like a gymnast's balance beam. Spinning atop it, Ruby smashed her feet into the woman's chest and sending her flying back.

Yanking Crescent Rose from the ground, Ruby heard the tall Faunus shouting orders. "Fall back! Fall back to the Bullheads! _Now!_"

Without thinking, Ruby pulled back the bolt on her sniper-scythe, ejecting the spent shell and chambering a fresh round. That done, Ruby ran forward towards Blake and her companion. Any goons nearby gave the young Huntress-in-Training a wide space as they fled to the remaining Bullhead by the entrance. Several of the goons were carrying unconscious comrades.

Ruby thought she could hear what sounded like Ember Celia drawing closer. She smiled, warmth flooding her chest. She had nothing to worry about. Soon she'd have the rest of her team with her. Together, they'd save the day and Ruby didn't feel sorry for what that was going to mean for the White Fang and Roman Torchwick.

As the main group of the White Fang retreated deeper into the dockyard, Blake and her companion chased after them. With Blake's companion spinning his staff to deflect away some of the bullets sent their way. Blake meanwhile was firing away with Gambol Shroud. She'd switched one of her swords back to pistol mode and the other blade held in a clenched fist. But both of them seemed to be moving slower than normal to Ruby's eyes.

This prompted Ruby to speed up. As she drew close, Blake whirled around. Having heard the sound of booted feet approaching her from behind, she had her sword at the ready. For an instant, a snarl was plastered across her features before she saw who it was.

Moving past Blake past in a blur, Ruby swung her scythe at the throng of attacking White Fang, sweeping them away with the blunt side of Crescent Rose. In the face of the sudden attack, the masked goons fell back. Ruby skidded to a halt, rose petals tumbling off her.

"You okay?" She asked her teammate. Blake was breathing hard, her face smeared with what looked like soot and dirt. Ruby felt almost overwhelmed by both relief at having finally found her missing friend and concern over her current state.

"I'm fine." Ruby didn't think she looked fine, but Blake continued before she could say anything. "Look, we need to hurry if we're going to stop them. If we don't they're going to steal more Dust and escape!"

The younger girl nodded and looked ahead to the White Fang who had regrouped around a mountain of a man, who raised his weaponized chainsaw in challenge. One the silver-eyed girl wouldn't let go unanswered.

_"Yaaaaaaaaah!"_ Ruby shouted, flourishing Crescent Rose and shooting forwards to charge right at the White Fang's forces.

* * *

**Chapter ****Notes:**

I'm particularly eager to hear what people think of how I handled the fight and if I did Ruby and Blake's fighting style justice. I've tried to strike a balance between the Monty-style fights we got in the earlier Volumes and the more restrained ones that the series seems to be leaning towards now.

I'd just like to again give my warmest thanks to everyone whose not only favorite'd and followed this story, but left comments as well. I really appreciate that you guys and gals enjoy my story; it means a ton to me. Please feel free to leave your thoughts and comments, as I love to hear them. It's always good to hear input from my readers.

* * *

Speaking of which, thank you Zam, Fiersomeone and Paladin for your kind words! I'm glad you think so highly of my story so far.

**Egoraptor:**

I think your being a bit unfair there. Cinder is, after all still human and just as prone to fear as anyone else. Also, based on what we see in the later Volumes, as well as her flashback conversation with Salem in V3, I'm of the view that Cinder as we saw her in the early Volumes was something of an act. A facade she put up to try to awe and intimidate others. Which, to my mind, makes Cinder a much more interesting character then the (frankly bland) smug villianess she first appeared to be.

**Alucard45:**

I appreciate your honesty and I'm glad that you decided to give my story a chance. Plus it's nice to know the cover-art paid off a little. As for the two characters, they're 100% of my own creation. Although the Shadows and the techno-mages aren't.

Also, thank you for pointing out the errors in chapter 1 for me! I've gone back through the chapter and I _think_ I've gotten all of them. As for the timing error, the bit with the OC's in chapter 1 was a left-over of an earlier version of the chapter that somehow snuck past my editing. I've fixed that and added in some lines in chapters 1 and 2 to hopefully clarify when everything is happening. Though I will admit Shaidar and Paula still being able to see the moon, however faintly, is somewhat a bit of artistic license on my part.

**GuestLurker**

Heh. Well, let's say that Blake's encounter with the White fang Lieutenant will have some interesting butterfly effects on the rest of the story. As will quite a few other things in this version of the dockyard fight.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

* * *

_Hang on guys, we're almost there! _Yang Xiao Long thought. Once again, a blast from Ember Celica launched her forward into another low-leaping arc down the empty street. It was the same tactic she'd used after being launched into the Emerald Forest during her initiation at Beacon.

Yang was aware of Weiss following close behind. Her teammate propelling herself down the street with a series of white glyphs, her sword in hand. But Yang's purple eyes were fixed ahead on the black smoke that coiled up in the moonlight one of the dockyards that lined Vale's shore.

It'd been almost an hour since she, Ruby and Weiss had run into anyone who'd seen Blake or the monkey-Faunus she'd been hanging out with. The three of them had been walking along a city street that paralleled the ocean shore when they'd heard the distant explosion. Before either of them could say anything, Ruby had taken one look at the growing tower of smoke. Then she was racing away out of Yang's sight. Despite their best, they couldn't match Ruby's speed Semblance and lagged behind.

Now, over the rushing wind in her ears, Yang could make out the sounds of gunfire. She thought she could hear Crescent Rose firing. But nothing that sounded like Blake's Gambol Shroud. And she couldn't see anything with the warehouses blocking her view of the docks.

Another pull of the trigger propelled Yang ever closer to her target. If Blake _was_ there, if something had happened to her...or if Ruby got hurt before Yang could get there...

Yang didn't let herself continue that thought. Her friend would be okay. Her sister would be okay. This wouldn't be like Ruby in the woods- she wouldn't let it be. She pushed herself that little bit harder. Both feet slammed against the street as Yang fired the weapons built into her gauntlets one more time. Pushing herself off the ground with another pair of Aura-augmented shotgun blasts.

She landed almost on top of the entrance to the dockyard. Yang ran forward, leaving Weiss to hurry after her.

They arrived at a scene of chaos. Gunfire filled the air as a large group of Faunus wearing the uniform of the White Fang retreated deeper into the dockyard, fending off a battered Blake and a blond monkey Faunus.

But none of that mattered to Yang. Not as much as the sight her sister, with Crescent Rose in hand, darting forward with a high-pitched cry towards a tall, armored Faunus in a trail of red rose petals. Leaving a battered Blake and a blond monkey-Faunus behind her.

In an instant, the tall Faunus smacked her sister aside with a blow from the massive chainsaw he held. Her Aura might have saved her, but Ruby was sent flying backwards, tumbling and skidding. Before she jabbed Crescent Rose into the ground to stop herself. The blade caught, tearing open a deep trench into the asphalt.

Yang's gaze snapped away from where Ruby was picking herself up to the man who'd knocked her sister back. Yang took a step forward, her first clenching within Ember Celica.

Then she stopped. Something about the wall of boxes the tall Faunus and his allies were heading towards drew her attention. There was a familiar logo in white on the sides of the shipping containers. Her mind flashed to the explosion she'd heard and the pillar of smoke that'd led them here. Everything clicked together. They were in the middle of enough Dust to flatten everything for miles. That cold, sobering realization turned the embers of Yang's anger to ash.

It was then that she heard the roar of jet engines. She glanced to her right to see a Bullhead pulling itself into the air, a hatch on it's nose sliding open to reveal a mini-gun.

Before Yang could shout any sort of warning, the weapon chattered to life. But Ruby, Blake and the blond Faunus had noticed the Bullhead taking flight as well. The trio were already scattering as gunfire chewed up the asphalt where they'd been standing. Meanwhile, the Bullhead had started to swing sideways towards the center of the dockyard.

_"Weiss stay here. Get ready to help Ruby and Blake!"_ Yang had to yell to be heard over the sound of gunfire.

She heard Weiss shout something back- it might have been _"What are you going to-?"_

But by then, the blonde was already moving, her mind whirling as she tried to work out a plan. Yang knew she'd have to careful about this. She had no idea how tough the containers were or what protection they had to keep Dust they held from exploding. And the Aura-flames her Semblance created, as well as the Aura-enhanced rounds she could fire from Ember Celia, might easily set off the Dust the containers held. As would the Bullhead if it lost control and crashed into the shipping containers.

Even as Yang charged forward the Bullhead was sweeping out a stream of bullets and tracers. The aircraft was trying to force her teammates and the monkey-Faunus back towards the entrance of the dockyard. She could see it was doing a good job of keeping them preoccupied.

It was then that the Bullhead noticed her. Immediately, it switched targets. A messy hail of bullets began shredding the ground around Yang, while others smacked against her Aura. The combined hits staggered her for an instant. The blonde Student-Huntress could feel her Semblance start to roar to life. Sending energy coursing through her body and a fiery glow began to spread through her hair.

Not wasting a second more, Yang fired Ember Celica at the ground one, twice; her weapons sending her hurtling into the air. Draining her Semblance and the growing red tinge in her purple eyes. She caught a brief snatch of surprised faces and cries of _'Yang?!' _from Blake and her sister as she shot overhead. But she had little chance to think of them right now.

The Bullhead was still trying to hit her, but it couldn't bring it's gun up fast enough. Cocking her arm back, Yang brought her fist into a vicious right hook that ripped the chain-gun clear off its mount. Pushing off against the bottom of the aircraft, Yang twisted into a backwards flip that sent her down towards the ground. Where her team had continued their fight against the White Fang.

Aiming Ember Celia downwards and firing to slow her fall, Yang angled herself towards the White Fang. They'd used the distraction created by the gunfire to get closer to their remaining three Bullheads. Though to her surprise, they hadn't gotten as far as she'd thought they would've.

That thought was on the edge of her mind however. Before it could make any progress, a large black glyph blossomed beneath the Faunus's feet, holding them in place. Though not all them were trapped; they were too spread out for that. Yang glimpsed some of those who hadn't been caught turning back to try and help. While others continued running towards the Bullheads. Then she was too low to see over the wall of containers.

Over the sound of the Bullhead she's damaged retreating, Yang could hear her sister shout something, but wasn't sure what at first. Until she saw Ruby, Blake and the blond Faunus starting to move from where the Bullhead had scattered them. They were already starting forwards in a ragged charge by the time Yang hit the ground. Off to the side, Weiss was still hanging back, Myrtenaster held in one hand and pointed at the enemy. A faint glow issued from the rapier's chamber as she used the gravity Dust within to augment the glyph holding the White Fang.

Yang's hair fluttered behind her as she rushed to catch up with the others. She'd practiced together with her team enough to know how Weiss's glyphs worked. Weiss would have to drop the one she had when they got to the Fang. Otherwise, they'd all be stuck together. Which also meant they had to reach the White Fang at the same time to ensure Weiss didn't drop her glyph early.

Running alongside her teammates, Yang felt the thrill of the fight itself, the nightclub music beat of adrenaline rush for the first time since she'd arrived here. Drawing closer, Yang could clearly see the dread on the Faunus's masked faces, with some struggling even harder against the slowly spinning Schnee crest beneath their feet. The big Faunus wasn't one of them. He stood on the edge of the crowd, the engine of his chainsaw purring as he stood ready for them.

The sight brought a wide grin to her face. A chance of payback against someone who hurt the people she'd cared for _and_ a challenging fight? Oh, she was going to _enjoy_ this.

With a burst of Aura, Yang leapt up into the air, her fist drawing back as she dove into the midst of the White Fang. She could see him trying to bring the heavy chainsaw up, but it was slow, _too slow._

Her grin widened. _This will be _so_ easy. _Her arm rocketed forward, ready to send him stumbling backwards. Ready to carve a space for herself among crowd with Ember Celica.

Yang's fist met his face and the Faunus shattered like glass.

_What the-?!_

"GAH!" Yang cried, stumbling, spinning. Wary and confused as she tried to figure out what'd just happened.

Around her, she could hear and see her stunned teammates reacting likewise. Until the scream of Bullhead engines drew Yang's eyes upwards. Only to leave her staring dumbly, her arms going slack at the three aircraft soaring away over the bay with Dust containers pulled tightly beneath them.

"Oh _come on!_" the monkey Faunus shouted, his voice shrill with exasperation.

As if those words were a key, Yang suddenly found her body would move again. She focused the crackle-hum power of her Aura into her fists. Her arms snapped up, punch after punch throwing Aura-enhanced round at the quickly receding Bullheads. Around her, she was aware of the heavy clicks of weapons shifting as Blake and Ruby started firing at the Bullheads as well. Yang hoped they'd be able to get some good hits in. She didn't have a much accuracy with Ember Celia at this distance.

But they seemed to amount to little. With most of their energy burnt out by the time they reached the target, the few fiery hits she managed did little more than leave scorches on the aircraft's hulls. And even while Yang watched, the three Bullheads vanished into thin air without a trace. Taking with them the sound of their engines, leaving only the mocking gentle slush and hiss of the sea.

Yang clenched her teeth, any trace of joy or celebration she might have felt lost in the bitter taste of frustration. The fact that the White Fang had managed to make off with so much Dust could not be a good thing. But the worse part for Yang was how little she'd been able to stop them. All because of where they'd been fighting.

That she might be so handicapped by something as simple as the environment chilled Yang. Sure, there'd been occasions where she'd had to hold back in a fight. But those had always been friendly sparring or practice. What's more, she knew she couldn't rule out something like this happening again. All this passed through the blonde's mind in a flash. Before she latched onto a train of thought that took her in a completely different direction.

Wiping away the sweat that had accumulated on her forehead, Yang glanced over at her sister. The normally energetic leader of Team RWBY was relaxing a white-knuckled grip on her scythe's staff. Then with a flourish, she reverted Crescent Rose into it's more compact carrying mode in her left hand, before returning the weapon to its resting place at the back of her waist.

"Are you okay?" Yang asked, her eyes searching Ruby for any signs of serious injury. To her relief, outside of the few light cuts and scrapes that littered her clothes and skin, she seemed okay.

Ruby glanced over, meeting her sister's questioning gaze. Beneath the sweat, dirt, and ash, dejected silver eyes stared back up at Yang. "Don't worry, I'm fine."

Yang nodded, feeling her heart ache. Closing the distance between them, she placed an arm around Ruby's shoulders and gave her sister a gentle, reassuring squeeze. A breeze picked up the downtrodden young team leader's cape, billowing it out.

Yet, she couldn't ignore what Ruby had done. Not for the first time, her sister had split up the team to run off on her own. Maybe if they'd stuck together and been able to work as a team, they would have enough firepower to overwhelm the White Fang before they could escape.

For a moment, she considered speaking to Ruby about it. But it wasn't the time to bring that up. Ruby was already in the dumps, and she didn't want to undermine her little sister's position as the team leader in front of everyone. Besides, Yang couldn't be completely sure if Ruby running off had even helped Blake out, or if it'd just make it easier for the White Fang to escape.

The thought made Yang pause. Actually, where was Blake? Guilt stung her. She'd been so focused on her sister, that she hadn't stopped to see how her own partner was doing. Shifting her gaze from Ruby, a fresh surge of guilt hit Yang as she got her first good look at her partner.

Even in the dim light of the moon and the burning Dust, Blake looked like a battered mess. Her clothes with were splotched with dirt and streaks of blood. And it seemed like every part of her body that Yang could see had some sort of cut, scratch or bruise.

Yang took a step forward, wanting nothing more than to engulf her in a hug. It took everything she had to force herself to stop, not wanting to cause Blake any further pain.

"Blake, you're hurt!" Ruby yelped.

"I'll be alright—it's just some cuts," Blake assured her, her voice even. But with a hint of weariness that betrayed her exhaustion.

Several things flashed through Yang's brain and were forgotten as something on top of Blake's head _moved_. She stared, seeing for the first time that her friend wasn't wearing her usual ribbon atop her head.

It was only as the exposed Faunus ears flattened, almost as if they were trying to hide themselves, that Yang broke her stare. And saw the uncertain expression on Blake's face as her dark-haired partner stared back at her. A little off to the side, Yang could see the monkey-faunus, who looked just as battered as Blake looking concerned. Heat coiled in Yang's stomach, but she couldn't figure out if it was sadness or shame. Nor did she try to.

In two long steps, she crossed the distance between them. Yang felt her friend freeze at her sudden, enthusiastic hug. A second later, she felt Ruby join them as well, gently wrapping her arms around both of them.

"I'm just glad you're okay." Yang said and felt Blake relax, then return her embrace around her shoulders.

"T-Thanks to you." Blake mumbled into Yang's shoulder. Yet the sincere appreciation and relief in her tone was clear. Yang felt a lump form in the back of her throat and she swallowed thickly.

For a moment the three of them remained in each other's embrace. Then they parted, stepping back, their friendship a little stronger because of their words and actions.

Then Yang saw Blake's smile fade from her face as the partner's eyes settled on something past Yang's shoulder. Yang followed Blake's gaze and saw Weiss was drawing close to them, Myrtenaster at her hip. Despite her steady steps, the heiress's face and body was stiff, her expression one of a person who was conflicted, yet also determined.

Besides her, Ruby had also followed Blake's gaze and stepped forward to approach Weiss. "Weiss, it's-" the heiress's name slipped from her sister, worry creeping into the edges. Only to cut off, her silver eyes flashing up at Yang, who'd tugged her sleeve. Yang shook her head _no_. Even if some part of her wanted to say something, Yang knew that Blake and Weiss needed a chance to talk this out between themselves.

Yang watched as Blake walked forward, until she stood alone. Her partner and the heiress stared at one another. Blake started to say something but hesitated. Weiss looked equally uncertain about what to do. Then, without warning, the Ice Queen fixed the other girl with a glare and Blake flinched in surprise.

_'Oh no Weiss, please don't...'_

"What were you thinking!" Weiss snapped, "Running away like that!? With that _rapscallion!?_" she gestured to the monkey faunus. "Do you have any idea how worried I -" She stopped herself and glanced away for an instant, "_...we _were about you? Do you how know hard it's been to cover for you?"

Yang let out a breath she didn't even know she had been holding. Blake blinked in surprise, then glanced over to her with a questioning look. The blonde nodded.

"I-" Blake began in a tight voice, "thank you, but...I'm surprised you didn't repor-..." she trailed off.

"I thought about it," Weiss admitted in a quiet, clear tone, "But it was suggested that I hear your side of things first...I suppose maybe they were right. We were both feeling very...high-strung. I know I said things that I regret and I'm sorry," the heiress admitted, she looked up at Blake, "Maybe in the heat of the moment you did too? Maybe even said something that wasn't true?"

"I did and I am sorry." Blake looked down at the ground, "I want to explain wh-" The approaching sound of sirens cut her off.

"I guess we have more immediate things to worry about." Yang could hear the relief coloring Weiss's tone.

"Weiss-"

"We need time to sort this all out, but right now," The heiress said, stepping in close, "we need to figure out what we're going to tell the authorities."

"...You're right," Blake admitted, "Another time?"

"Another time." The heiress assured.

"Are they okay?" Ruby asked quietly, glancing away from their distant teammates to Yang.

"They will be little sis, it's just gonna take time."

As Blake fished her bow out from a pocket and tied it around the ears atop her head, Yang became aware of a growing dull ache throughout her body. Pain danced at the edge of her senses. With the adrenaline fading her muscles, overworked from the long run here and the fight, were were finally beginning to protest. Still, Yang wasn't too concerned. This wasn't the first time she'd pushed herself a little harder then she should've. Her Aura should have her healed by morning- at worse she'd be a little sore.

Though as the wailing sirens grew closer, Yang took a moment to glance around at the battle-worn docks and warehouses. Wondering exactly _how_ they were going to explain all this to the police.

**-RWBY-**

A dozen yards away on a dark rooftop several stories above the battle-scarred ground, Shaidar Gorthule rose up to his feet from the low crouch he'd spent the past few minutes in. Besides him, he was aware of Paula Ravenwood doing the same with her customary predatory grace. They could afford to now that the battle was over.

As the pair stood, Shaidar dispelled the energy shield that had protected them in favor of a soundproof barrier. At the same time, he enlarged the illusion he'd created around them.

Having arrived just before Yang and Weiss did, Shaidar hadn't doubted for a moment that his shield would protect himself and Paula from any stray shots or debris kicked up by the battle below. Instead, his concern had been more focused on avoiding being noticed. Which was what would happen if anyone would happen to see a piece of shrapnel bouncing off of what was appeared to be thin air and decided to investigate.

A risk that was made all the greater thanks the Fanus's better-then-human night vision. That was why they'd been crouched low on the roof- to make themselves as small of a target as they could, while still being able to to get a good view of what was happening. Like all Techno-mages, Shaidar could choose to see in the dark thanks to his cybernetics that further augmented his already inhuman eyes.

Of course, they could have used his sensors to remotely view the fight at a greater distances. There were certainly Techno-mages in the Order who would have. But there was something to be said for seeing a battle in person.

Peering over the edge of the roof, Shaidar and Paula looked on as several police officers left their squad cars and approached the five teenagers. And from an official-looking gray car, strode a stern-looking blonde woman in business-attire, as well as a purple and black cape of a strange design. She moved with speed the self-assurance of someone who did not have time for delays.

As he'd done since the battle ended, Shaidar continued to use his Techno-mage cybernetics to filter out background noises and enhanced others so he could easily hear what was being said between the people below. He fed the result through a hologram in the palm of his hand so Paula could hear it as well.

The conversation that followed mostly focused on police procedures and the various individuals agreeing to come to the police station to tell what had happened. Outside of learning some more names and a few tidbits about how the police operated in Vale, it didn't tell Shaidar anything he couldn't have found out otherwise.

Which couldn't be said for the earlier conversation between the five teenagers that had been interrupted by the arrival of the police. Any thoughts or concerns about the broken Linking Device had been swept aside for the moment at this new development.

When he'd arrived at the dockyard, Shaidar Gorthule had though back to his encounter with the three teenagers and wondered if Blake's friends were unaware that she was a Faunus. Or if they had known but simply had decided not to say for one of any number of reasons. As his scanners had easily picked up that she was a Faunus when she and Sun had walked by himself and Paula even earlier in the day. At the time, all this had been a momentary curiosity on his part. Now, it could mean something more.

It was only after the teenagers had departed with their professor- Glynda Goodwitch, if he'd heard right- that he shut down the hologram and the transmission. He turned his inhuman eyes, dark green irises flecked with orange, cat-like slits for pupils and a black sclera, to Paula. Her hand still hadn't left her holstered energy pistol.

He broke the silence the pair of them had held for what might seem like a medium-sized eternity.

"Well, that was unexpected. Still, I've found this whole experience to be rather enlightening." Shaidar Gorthule said, his voice almost conversational. After all, it was always better to know of a potential enemy's existence before they knew of yours. And what he'd seen here had revealed much to him.

He recalled the words of an ancient Terran military treatise, the Art of War. _'Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. When you are ignorant of the enemy, but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If you are ignorant of the enemy and yourself, you will succumb in every battle.'_

That understanding was part of what had driven him when he'd first started learning about this world. To discover as much knowledge as he could of its strengths and weakness before taking any serious action- both for Paula's sake and for his own. Besides, it was common sense to seek out understanding instead of committing blindly. At least so long as circumstances allowed for it.

A breath of air off the harbor carried a tang of salt, replacing the smell of burned metal and Dust from the battle below.

"That's one way of putting it. So much for Faunus extremists not being a problem. Assuming that this is the same White Fang you mentioned earlier and that we've been hearing about from the news." Paula's voice carried the same undertone of quite concern that'd been in his own.

Shaidar thought of the Faunus they'd seen retreating. The blatant symbolism behind the White Fang's Grimm-masks and secretiveoutfits hadn't escaped him. Be it the first time he'd seen them or here. Stuck halfway between a street-gang and army, the White Fang were forced to lean on intimidation to make up for it.

That such conflict had happened was unsurprising under the circumstances. But then, adversity and chaos were the natural order of things. Facts that the Shadows had long known.

Because of this, the Shadows and those who served them had embraced a philosophy of _evolution through chaos_ for since ancient times. And so sought to help encourage competition and turmoil to ward off stagnation. Societies and species had to adapt or weather the storm of conflict as best they could. Those who did not would perish, leaving room for those who survived to rise up stronger and better than before. It was a struggle he'd experienced for himself on a personal level.

With all that said, too much chaos -_anarchy_\- was as harmful as no conflict at all. Chaos in the Shadows' philosophy was a means to an end, not the end goal itself. Too much conflict would wear a civilization down to nothing. And a civilization that continuously fought and back-stabbed among itself would likewise collapse in short order.

"That they are. Obviously the local intelligence on them was inaccurate, if not outright wrong. Did you pick up anything from them?"

Soon after they'd arrived at the docks, Paula had suggested using her telepathy to 'listen in' on the surface thoughts being projected by the people below. Shaidar hadn't even considered it before she'd suggested it. Which hadn't stopped him from agreeing to it. He had no qualms about accepting a useful idea merely because it wasn't his own.

Neither Shaidar or Paula had been concerned about possible telepathic defenses. From what Paula had told him earlier that day, whatever defenses Aura might grant against telepathy, they hadn't stopped her from accidentally picking up on people's stray thoughts. Plus, doing this would be a passive use of her abilities. It wouldn't intrude into anyone's mind and set off any possible defenses there.

"A few things. Our friend with the black bowler hat is named Roman Torchwick. Seems he's human- and I got the impression they weren't happy about working with him. He treats them like he's famous or some sort of big shot. He thinks he is too. Loves the sound of his own voice. Does all that mean anything to you?"

Data scrolled across Shaidar's eyes as he searched the CCTS for information. His sensors had already told him that Roman was human, but he didn't bother pointing that out to Paula. "From what I can find, he's an impressive thief. No sign of him working with the Fang before now. Which isn't half as odd as them working with a human. Anything else?"

"From the Fang? Nothing besides a few scattered names from people who were checking to see if their buddies made it. Most of them were too busy to be broadcasting their thoughts about anything useful. I did get a few thing from Blake and the teacher."

"Go on."

"It might be nothing, but Glynda seems to think that Beacon's Headmaster has high hopes for Team RWBY." Here, Paula's voice turned thoughtful. "Which could just mean he sees them as promising students. Even with them holding back, I can see why too. Doubly so with Ruby. Recklessness aside, the kid has potential. More than I thought she did at first, given her personality."

Shaidar would have found it hard not to agree. Team RWBY had fought with a level of not just skill, but teamwork that he wouldn't have expected from teenagers, even first year students. They'd preformed moves together with barely a glance between them. Trust like that did not come easy.

Without it, even the best trained troops would hesitate; thinking through their actions rather than reacting according to their training. All the more impressive was that the Huntresses-In-Training managed to hold out when they couldn't use most of their abilities with the risk of setting off the Dust in the cargo containers.

Even before Paula had spoke, Shaidar knew he wasn't the only one to notice RWBY's leader. While one part of this mind had focused on the battle going on below them, another part had been keeping track of his companion's expression and actions.

"They are quite impressive." He agreed. "From what I've seen of students their age, I'd even go so far to say that they're prodigies. Speaking of which, you mentioned Blake?"

"Yes. I got the feeling that there's more going on here between her and the White Fang." Paula replied, "Her reaction, her emotions to everything that happened tonight was too personal. Even more so about this Roman Torchwick and the White Fang working together. That was a big shock for her. She was carrying around a lot of guilt too. Mind you, I'm not certain. But between her feelings and what I could pick up from Weiss, I think Blake might be ex-White Fang."

He was not surprised that Paula had managed to uncover so much just from listening to surface thoughts. If accidentally picking up on people's thoughts was like catching snatches of conversation in another room, then intentionally listening in, with her barriers down, was like pressing your ear against the door to that room.

For a long moment, Shaidar Gorthule stood there, the possibilities and potentials flipping through his mind at top speed as he gazed out on the wreckage of the battle and the police officers scurrying through it.

His mind, like those of many who served the ancient alien race known as the Shadows, had been augmented with neural cybernetic implants. Among them was a database that helped increase his tactical and strategic awareness on an almost instinctual level. They were much like his watered down version of the Shadow's genetic memory in that regard.

As with his primary set of neural implants, the combat database was not uncommon among those who worked for the Shadows. The Shadows had long used them to quickly ingrain the knowledge of the ways of war into the minds of new servants. Though even with their advanced technologies, there were limits on how many neural implants their servants could have, with two being the limit in his case.

Turning back to Paula and meeting her golden gaze, he said, "I think we can both agree that there's something more going on here. Even with someone who's Semblance can hide Bullheads, this is a major change in scale and tactics for the Fang. We need to investigate what's happening. See _if_ we need to involve ourselves. Or if the locals can handle whatever's coming on their own- I don't see the point in us borrowing trouble. Our situation isn't exactly all fish and chips to begin with."

Shaidar knew there was no need to point out the obvious by reminding Paula of the conversation they'd had at their apartment only a short while ago. That if they got involved they ran the chance of drawing attention to themselves- and what risks that might carry for them.

There was another reason of course for them to stay on the sidelines that was just as valid, if not more so. One which tied into the philosophy of the Shadows and their own personal experiences.

Both he and Paula had seen what tended to happen when an outside force barged in and started fighting people's battles for them. It almost never solved the underlying issues that caused all the fuss to begin with. Plus, those who were having their problems solved for them were less likely to learn from the mistakes that brought those issues around to begin with.

Of course, there were also ways around that particular issue...

"Sticking our heads in the sand won't help." Paula agreed. "Though I'm curious to hear why you think this isn't some act of desperation to get Dust to use or sell. Or maybe a feint to draw attention towards Vale? Even if Team RWBY hadn't shown up and there wasn't a fight, I'm sure someone would have noticed the crates missing in the morning. With how much the Fang hate the Schnees, they'd be a prime suspect."

"Those are possibilities." The Shadow-human hybrid agreed. "Although I find it difficult to imagine how the Fang would have allowed their situation to become this desperate. Then there's the matter of why they'd need so much Dust in a hurry. That they did this here instead of a more remote spot is also telling. The Fang need the Dust in Vale. If not, they're going to have a difficult time selling that much Dust or getting it out of the Kingdom undetected. Those VTOLs don't have much range and an illusion Semblance can only do so much."

He wondered if the upcoming Vytal Festival could be the White Fang's target. It was possible, but also an obvious target. Perhaps too much of one, Shaidar reflected. It could be that the Fang _wanted_ their enemies to assume that they would attack Vytal Festival as an elaborate distraction to hide their true objective.

There was also the manner of attack to consider as well. An incident at the Vytal festival could serve as a statement against the Kingdoms and a way to further divide and radicalize the Faunus, driving more of them into the arms of the White Fang. But it would carry with it considerable risk of backfiring. Justifying the Kingdoms taking major action against the White Fang in a war the Faunus group could not win. All were things that any leader would have to consider.

"As for a feint," he continued, "our arrival already gave the Fang a more than adequate distraction. Having a raid occur on the same day risks drawing too much attention for too little gain. Consider that and their willingness to fight until the last moment. The Fang were worried about being able to acquire Dust before everything had calmed down from our arrival. So they're on a time table of some kind."

That the White Fang were willing to work with a human that they disliked could mean that their racism against humans had been overstated. Though Shaidar Gorthule found it more likely that their alliance came from Torchwick being able to give them something they wanted. Perhaps they were even a catspaw for someone even both; maybe any number of other reasons. There were too many unknowns and variables to be certain yet.

Still, it could open up the possibility of him and Paula allying themselves with the Faunus group. Though personally Shaidar was skeptical of the viability of such an arrangement. Also, he knew Paula wouldn't easily go along with it.

"Well, that makes sense," Paula acknowledged. "Speaking of which, I assume that we'll start by looking into Torchwick's background? Because if we are, we should try to look into the other names I picked up as well. They could be in a criminal database or watch list."

He nodded. "An excellent idea. As for Team RWBY," Shaidar Gorthule, Hand of the Shadows, personal servant of the Lords and Ladies of Chaos gave a faint smile, "if what you're saying about Blake is true, they might be worth keeping an eye on as well."

**-RWBY-**

Deep in the Forest Of Forever Fall, a woman in red and black stepped over a toppled tree trunk, thigh-length black boots moving in measured steps. Like the rest of of her clothing, her boots were well made, but had seen much wear.

As she moved, the woman played the beam of a small but powerful flashlight across the ground as she continued to survey the desolate clearing. An elaborate helmet obscured most of her head, except for her long black hair and the raven feathers twisted into it. The helmet itself was white with red accents and shaped like the fearsome head of a Grimm bird of prey. One gloved hand never strayed far from the sword sheathed in the heavy scabbard that hung at her left hip.

Hidden behind the helmet, Raven Branwen's crimson eyes were narrowed in frustration. Not for the first time, she bit back a curse. She was too late; despite having come here as quick as she could once news had reached her, the militia and specialists sent here to investigate from Vale had made a complete mess of things. Any signs of what had happened here this morning were next to impossible to find beneath their boot-prints and dirt they'd kicked up.

Still, there were things Raven could tell from signs of how the militia from Vale had behaved and what they'd taken from the site before they'd obviously left some time previously. All the signs she could see pointed to magic, powerful magic at that, to create a clearing several hundred feet across. Which was what really mattered to Raven. Had this been caused by Dust, she would have found some trace of it or fragments of bomb casing, and there was no way someone with so powerful a Semblance could have escaped her attention before now- or that of Ozpin and Salem. The power that had done this was equal to that of a Maiden.

To Raven, this almost had to be the doing of one of Salem or Ozpin's pawns. A third party was possible and not to be discounted, but there was only a small chance of that. Ozpin and Salem jealously guarded what power and knowledge they had.

If it was so easy to acquire such power outside serving in their cabals, Raven would have discovered it long ago. As for stealing it from either of them, that would be a foolish errand unless done carefully. Her misguided brother might have failed to protect the Fall Maiden, but Raven knew that to be a fluke.

That the Fall Maiden had been overcome so easily and had needed a guard at all revealed how weak Amber had been. Inexperience alone could not excuse what had happened. She'd been little more than a figurehead propped up by what Raven saw as a frightened old man who dared only to tell his servants riddles and half-truths. Raven only regretted it had taken herself so long to realize the extent of this.

The idea that Ozpin might have been the cause of this desolation almost drew a snort of laughter from Raven. For all his claimed knowledge and wisdom, he was far too careful and cautious to allow such actions. It was but one reason among many that Beacon would fall and he would fail. Followed soon by the Kingdoms and the fools who cowered within them. It was the natural order of things. People who were weak would die and those who were strong would live.

Reaching to her hip, Raven drew her curved crimson sword. The blade doubled to over twice it's length in an instant. There was a high pitched thrumming and the sword flashed downward through empty space. The blade left a red rent in its wake. It was as if the air itself was wounded.

Determination and focus enveloped her, hardened her mind to ice and her will to steel. If this was some new twist in Salem's scheme, she would uncover it and plan accordingly. And should it turn out to be the doing of someone else...she'd ether recruit them by any means necessary or deal with them. One way or another, it would be before Ozpin or Salem could so the same.

What sort of leader would she be if she wouldn't do whatever was necessary to ensure the survival of her people...and herself?

* * *

**Chapter ****Notes:**

To quote an alleged ancient Chinese curse 'Maybe you live in interesting times.' I hope I did a good job showing how things are beginning to diverge from the canon timeline, as well as continuing to get the characterizations of the various characters of Team RWBY as well as Sun and Raven down right.

And yes, one of the reasons we get to see Raven and Shaidar's point of views back to back in this chapter is to contrast the views and philosophies of the two Social Darwinist. I'm curious to hear what people thought of this and the two character's personalities. As I've tired my best to humanize them both.

Of course, if you have anything else you'd like to say, I'd love to hear your thoughts on that as well.

* * *

**Alucard45:**

Blake's fighting style is indeed rather hard to pin down at times. Personally, I'd say the best description of it would be that it's very mobile and focused on not taking direct damage. As for my OC's, you'll be getting more of them interacting with the setting soon enough, as well as Team RWBY in the somewhat-near future. Though I am curious to know what about them do you think needs improvement at this point?

**Armiture:**

Thank you for your kind words! I do strive for hitting that balance in my writing; goodness knows we've all seen good stories let down by the writer wall-of-texting things or giving so little description that it can be hard to picture whats going on. Plus I enjoy painting pictures with my words.

Also, _oops_. Amazing, isn't it, how one misplaces letter can create a completely different word?

And again, thank you! It's always a pleasure to hear that people are enjoying one's hard work and storytelling.

**Uknown1:**

I'm glad you like my world-building and the fighting tactics I came up with here! I admit, I spent quite a bit of time planning out the fight and thinking of what sort of plans the White Fang would develop to allow them to fight back against Huntsmen and Huntresses. Something that, to me, just seemed like a logical thing they would do in-universe.

And nice catch! I was wondering if anyone would cotton onto how I had Blake and Ruby use different words to describe the White Fang. :)

**Ace of Spies:**

Thanks! And you won't be disappointed!

**Fiersomeone:**

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

**Paladin:**

Thank you! One of my main goals with my OC's in particular is to make sure they feel like actual people instead of just a role or a set of motivations.

Though I do wish I could have done a bit more with their scene; as it feels a little lacking to me.

Ha! I didn't even think of that comparison between Ruby and Tex when I was writing. Goodness, I miss when Red vs Blue was good.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

* * *

It was in the soft glow of mid-morning that shone into the office atop the central tower of Beacon Academy while a man of simple dark green clothing, gray hair, and dark spectacles took a thoughtful sip from his cup of cocoa. Having spent most of yesterday evening and this morning speaking to the Kingdom's civilian council, it was a simple, yet welcomed pleasure.

The thoughts of Beacon's Headmaster once again returned to the report of what had been uncovered at the site of the strange explosion that occurred the previous morning.

A chemical analysis of samples taken from the area had founded only trace levels of Dust. Too little to be the result of an explosive going off- and the lack of any fragments that might have served as a bomb casing only put that prospect into further doubt. It also all but ruled out someone using Nature's Wrath in it's raw form or to grant their Semblance more power.

Under different circumstances, Ozpin might have suspected that a Semblance alone was to blame- even if there were only a handful of Huntsmen and Huntresses with Semblances of that power. And fewer still who might have been able to create the type of destruction found in Forever Fall. Except for one thing. A fragment of a glass bottle had been found at the site; one which held not even the slightest trace of Dust. Instead it held remains of a chemical alien to all science on Remnant.

But not to someone acquainted with magic, even if the formula was unfamiliar to him.

"I don't think what happened yesterday could have been caused by someone using knowledge available inside the Kingdoms." He replied to the projection of an old comrade, James Ironwood. Ozpin had picked his words with care. Theoretically, they were speaking on a secure channel. But someone with enough motivation or curiosity might find a way to get around that.

On the holographic screen projected by the computer terminal built into Ozpin's desk, the man who was both the Headmaster of Atlas Academy and a General in the Atleasian military frowned. He was dressed in the customary white uniform that was befitting of his rank. Ozpin thought the man's black hair had more a hint of gray then when he'd last seen him, several months back.

Above them, the massive clockwork gears of Beacon Tower ticked, clicked and whirled away in the moment of silence.

"Are you suggesting that the White Fang is being armed by these...outside sources?" The General replied after a moment. That little pause told Ozpin that James knew who he'd been referring to.

"No, but that might be what whoever is behind this wants people to think. Possibly to further divide humanity and the Faunus by making the situation more toxic." Setting his mug on his desk, Ozpin continued.

"I'm afraid that the Council of Vale doesn't agree with me. They plan to make an official announcement later today, saying that stolen Dust was set off by accident due to 'improper storage' and that it came from a Schnee Dust Company train the White Fang robbed several months ago. The Council also plans to announce they're launching a full investigation to uncover any other possible stockpiles in the event that the White Fang has any stolen Dust still left."

Having decided to go along with the public's growing suspicions that the White Fang were responsible, the Council had little choice but to claim that the Faunus organization might have some stolen Dust left. If they claimed that the Dust in Forever Fall was all that remained, they risked backing themselves into a corner if the White Fang took action with what had been stolen for the docks.

Likewise, the Council also knew as well as Ozpin did that even if a quarter of the stolen Dust from the train had been to blame, the explosion would have been much larger. Something that would be obvious to anyone investigating the occurrence. All were possibilities that would raise questions about the Council's competency if they could be misled so easily and raise suspicious about their honesty.

"That seems...sudden." James commented.

"The Council believes that the longer they take to deflect attention from what happened, the more likely that people will start looking for their own answers. Blaming the White Fang is the lesser of two evils compared to people finding out that the Kingdoms don't have a clue as to what actually happened at Forever Fall. That the Council knows nothing of the real threat to the Kingdoms doesn't help our situation."

Unsurprisingly in troubled times like these, politicians of all stripes felt pressured- be it openly by the people or out of a desire to look good for their voters- to be seen Doing Something. It was an unnecessary reminder to Ozpin of the difficulties of career politicians and why, despite his long experience with governments, he had trouble getting along with them at times.

"And the stories of a White Fang's raid on the Vale docks last night?"

"The Council intends to cover up the fight by claiming it was an industrial accident. They'll likely try to downplay it further to keep people calm."Ozpin folded his hands on the desk, fighting the urge to reach for his mug.

"In their defense, things in Vale must already be pretty tense and we've seen what panic can cause." commented James.

"Which is why as of this morning Vale has decided to accept Atlas' offer of additional security for the Vytal Festival. Though it'll be several days before an official announcement is made and the Council has decided that I'll remain in charge of the security for the Vytal Festival."

Some of his disapproval must have slipped out in his voice, as James asked:

"What else should I have done? Discretion might not be enough for much longer now. With our enemy on the move, having a strong presence on the streets may calm the people's fears. If what Qrow says is true-"

"If what Qrow said is true," Ozpin interrupted,"then we need to handle this tactfully. The Vytal Festival is a time to celebrate unity and peace."

As Ozpin's spymaster, Qrow Branwen had spent the past three months searching for clues about who'd been behind the attacks on Amber. The short, three word message he'd sent last night to Ozpin's Brotherhood- 'Queen has pawns'- had been a confirmation of their words fears and suspicions. That Salem had been the one behind the attack.

"You mean to tell me that even when Lionheart has gone silent; even when Autumn has been attacked and left in critical condition; even when the Relic is compromised, you still—"

"_Think_, James." Ozpin almost chided. "Besides wreaking a small portion of a Schnee rail line and make the White Fang look guilty, this attack accomplished next to nothing. In light of that, it should be easy to convince people to accept the blast was something to be dismissed and forgotten about. But if we visibly bolster security for the festival they'll begin to ask: _'If there's nothing to worry about then why bring in soldiers? Especially to a celebration of peace if there really is no need for concern?'_ They'll question the Council's cover story, they might even start questioning what happened at the dockyards last night. Causing the very fear and suspicion the Council is trying to avoid."

"So then, what would you suggest we do?""I believe the raid at the docks is consistent with the White Fang's recent pattern of escalation. I'm reasonably certain that timing of the blast was merely a coincidence. So I hope you understand why I think it'd be for the best that you do not bring anything or anyone who draw unwanted attention to our efforts. Honestly, I understand the average citizen's and even the Council's reaction to this. But I fail to understand what about these events prompted you to martial the troops or request bringing in Specialists.""Oz, you know these two incidents are hardly the only disconcerting report the councils received and...in light of that I felt obligated to oblige their request."**  
**  
The Headmaster of Beacon blinked. **"**What 'other report' James?"

**"**...they didn't tell you?" The other man asked in disbelief.

**"**Tell me what?" Ozpin prodded.

"Two days ago, an Atlas military convoy was ambushed and crashed in the wilderness outside of Vale. Before any help could arrive, the convoy had been destroyed, it's personnel killed and it's cargo stolen. Including almost two dozen Paladin-290 prototypes being taken to Vale as part of a technological exchange."

A look of pain passed over the General's face. "Under different circumstances, we would have suspected the Mantle Liberation Front or possibly bandits. But given events at the Vale docks, there are fears that the White Fang were responsible. All of this has left Atlas in a… delicate position. We don't want our equipment used to harm an ally or to risk the spread of panic. Which is why I asked Vale permission to secretly bring several of our Specialists to assist in the investigation. They're more familiar with the 290's and their limitations then anyone in Vale. Given the situation and the upcoming Vytal Festival, we plan to keep as tight a lid on this as we can."

"I must admit, this puts a new light on things. Might I ask which Specialist do you intend to bring to my Kingdom?"

"Specialists Myst, Lapis and Schnee. They're some of the best and I felt bringing more than three Specialists would be excessive."

"I see. You've made the right decision James, even if I can't say I entirely agree with it. "

As the holographic screen flicked out of existence, Ozpin took a final sip of his cocoa. Before returning the now-empty mug to his desk and turning his chair to face the green-tinted clock-face window behind his desk. So that he gazed out on Beacon Academy and the distant city of Vale from his lofty office. The view was beautiful and his years as Beacon's Headmaster had done little to diminish it. But his thoughts were elsewhere.

Thanks in large part to his efforts and those of his secret followers, the past seventy years had been ones of peace unlike any other for the people of Remnant. He'd- no, _they'd_\- worked too hard for it be ruined now. Yet, he couldn't avoid a sense of foreboding. There was something unfamiliar in the air now. Something he couldn't put his finger on. It felt like it could be the start of things. And an ending too.

_But to what end? And for whom? _he wondered.

With all the talk about the White Fang over the past two days, perhaps it was natural that his mind went to Miss Belladonna, her past and her identity as a faunus. From there, the Headmaster's thoughts went to the rest of Team RWBY and those they surrounded themselves with.

Perhaps a change in plans should be considered, he resolved. Along with speaking to Glynda further about Team RWBY's condition. His conversation with the professor last night had been far too hasty and brief.

For a moment, he toyed with the idea of arranging to have a private word with Miss Belladonna about what'd happened at the docks and what else, if anything, she knew about the White Fang's recent activities. Then he dismissed the idea. At least for now, the last thing he'd want to do was to put her under further pressure or draw more attention to her.

Rousing himself from his contemplation, Ozpin turned away from the window, brought up the computer's holographic screen. A glance at the displayed in the corner told him it was 11:43. A little over ten minutes had passed since he'd spoke to James Ironwood. A sardonic smile pulled at his lips. Time was a funny thing.

Beacon's Headmaster shook the thought off. He had some calls to make.

**-RWBY-**

Elsewhere, a small shop stood near the heart of Vale. Above it's door the words _Guns and Glaives _were painted in white letters.

Inside stood an unremarkable-looking man. One who's rank marked him out as the Shadow's most trusted servant. As the one who carried their power power and authority as their proxy.

At a word from the shopkeeper, Shaidar Gorthule, his eyes once more hidden behind holograms, removed his hand from the tube-shaped laser scanner.

"Alright then Mr. Darkwater, your gauntlet should be ready in three to four days." said the shopkeeper, using the false name Shaidar had chosen for himself. She was an older woman, whose blonde hair was shot through with streaks of gray.

The best false identities, he knew, were the ones similar to a person's actual name. It was easier to remember and more liable to be responded to instinctively. Which presented a slight problem; there weren't any that he could imagine responding to or were commonplace enough not to stick out that sounded like 'Shaidar Gorthule'. Meaning he was back to using a name close to the one he'd been born with. Hence, 'Justin Darkwater'.

"That's quite alright," he responded. He wasn't surprised that it would take some time to make. Even if it was a standard, unadorned version of a dust gauntlet, it was still a glove made out of metal. Which require a lot of time and fine measurements to fit and work properly.

Less than five minutes later, Shaidar Gorthule had finished paying for various items and had started towards the entrance to the shop. Besides the Dust gauntlet and several vials of powdered Dust- the store only carried the basic types- he'd acquired a set of aviators for Paula.

But, unlike normal sunglasses, these were designed to link to the sensors in a Scroll. With the readings being displayed on one of the aviator's lenses'. With the intent to allow a person to watch their Aura-levels and those of their teammates. All without having to pull out their Scroll and check in the middle of a fight.

Shaidar Gorthule's hoped to alter the programming in it's sensors with what Paula would call technical-jiggery-pokery to allow her to get readings of other people's Aura levels. As while Paula could sense if someone had their Aura unlocked or not, she couldn't tell how strong it was. And for all they knew, it was possible that she would never be able to. If they ended up in a fight, knowing the opponent's strength would be very useful information to have. As well as if they had their Auras, and thus their protective shielding, activated or not.

The fact that no one else seemed to have thought of doing this had been a brief source of puzzlement for him. He knew it wasn't an issue of technology. Experiments on his own Scroll, along with information on how the Huntsmen Academies and the Amity Colosseum had Aura-sensors designed to detect the Aura of anyone within a large area- that way, they would not have to rely on the combatants having their Scrolls on them when fighting- had shown him that much.

Which meant one of two things. Either somehow no one had considered using the technology offensively, or it had not been developed further to keep the balance of power in favor of the Huntsmen. His personal bet was on the later option.

As he stepped around a pair of armored display cases, his sensors pinged him again. It seemed that the three Huntsmen and Huntresses he'd detected earlier from down the street were about to either pass in front of or enter the shop.

Shaidar decided that this would be the perfect time to conduct a test. He paused and looked over at one of the display cases, acting as if some weapon within had caught his eye.

The case in question contained a collection of weapons laid out from small throwing knives and axes to various firearms. The majority of which were mecha-shift weaponry. Although none were as complicated as the unique, handcrafted designs some Huntsmen created.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that the shopkeeper was looking in his direction with an almost expectant expression. Perhaps she hoped that 'Justin Darkwater' was going to buy something else.

However, most of the Shadow-human hybrid's attention was on the information that seemed to hover before his eyes. Although he hadn't been terribly surprised, he'd still been disappointed to discover yesterday that, due to it being some form of magic, Aura was too alien for his sensors to detect. So, much like he'd planned to do with Paula's Scroll later today, he'd modified his Scroll to detect other people's Aura readings. The results were then fed via his Scroll's wireless connection into his Techno-mage cybernetics.

While he had tested this new-found ability earlier this morning, it had been on civilians. Of which very few had their Aura unlocked and those that did, weren't particularly strong. At least according to his modified Scroll sensors. If there was some sort of fault with the sensors ability to detect different ranges of Aura, he'd prefer to find out about it now instead of in the heat of combat.

As the bell over the door rang, Shaidar did his best impression of casual interest as he glanced in that direction. Seeing the four new arrivals only confirmed what his sensors had detected earlier.

Had he any doubts that these three were a group of Huntsmen and Huntresses, then they would have been thoroughly squashed. All thanks to the presence of mecha-shifting weaponry that Shaidar personally viewed as alarmingly over-complicated.

Being Huntsmen and Huntresses, they were an unsurprisingly mismatched bunch.

First through the doorway was giant of a man wearing green with a two-handed sword strapped to his back. He was so tall that he had to duck his head to avoid hitting it on the top of the door frame.

After him was a brown-haired rabbit Faunus with a large box attached to a belt she wore around her waist. Inside, according to Shaidar's sensors was something that might have _looked_ like a camera. But the complex internal mechanisms and the presence of so-called hard-light Dust told him it was anything but.

Last inside was a woman who by her appearance and how she held herself, looked like she would be more at home modeling clothes for a fashion designer. By some feat of mechanical engineering, the purse she carried over one shoulder was a collapsible **mini-gun **of all things.

"You can't let people like him get you down Velvet." advised the last of the Huntresses.

"I know. But you guys really didn't have to go and make a scene about it," said the rabbit Faunus, with what sounded like an Australian accent.

"Oh yes we did. I'm not going to let some idiot talk trash a friend and someone on the best second-year team Beacon has." The fashionista shot back.

The green giant nodded, a frown on his face. "You aren't doing yourself any favors by letting people get away with pushing you around."

As Shaidar stepped aside to let them pass, they continued their conversation without appearing to notice him. As far as they were concerned, he might as well be a background character in a show where they were the protagonists. A nobody. Just as intended.

It was only as the girl with the collapsible mini-gun approached him that this changed. She paused, glanced in his direction, before scoffing. Shaidar Gorthule caught the sound of her muttering 'no fashion sense at all' under her breath as she followed her friends.

Shaidar Gorthule was for the most part amused by her reaction. Though if more Huntresses or Huntsmen were willing to underestimate him because of his choice of apparel, then so much the better.

Anyway, Shaidar Gorthule reflected as he headed towards the door, he'd gotten everything he could have came here for and more.

The modifications to the his Scroll's Aura-sensors had worked flawlessly. True, it didn't mean there might not be some issue yet to be discovered, but the fact that nothing had shown up yet was reassuring. As he'd had to rely on his stored programs to make the changes to the Scroll's coding as easy and quickly as he had. While they hadn't failed him yet, Shaidar knew that if they did, his basic skills in programming and electronic warfare would not take him very far.

His only regret was that he hadn't thought of starting to scan the group of four when he'd first detected them. It would have been nice to know for certain just how far the effective range was.

As for the Dust-Gauntlet he'd ordered, that could serve a variety of purposes. Having it be a physical object and not an illusion would help simplify matters. If he was captured or in a situation where he would have to disarm, having the gauntlet removed would make people lower their guard. As they would assume that it was the only weapon he had. The fact that it wasn't a flashy, mecha-shift weapon of the sort Huntsmen tended to use would also cause them to underestimate him. Plus, having the gauntlet not be a hologram would make it one less thing he'd have to worry about in regards to keeping up appearances.

Likewise, while he couldn't use Dust, having a weapon that allowed it's user to 'cast' Dust would give him much more freedom to use his actual abilities in the open. Meanwhile, everyone around him would just assume he was using Dust. And the weapon being a standard design would make it harder to backtrack who he was.

Pulling open the door, Shaidar left the store behind him.

There was also the rather obvious reasons why he'd gone for a Dust-gauntlet and not a mecha-shift weapon with some sort of melee function. While both Paula and himself had combat training and experience, they'd never used any weapons using mecha-shifts.

Plus, such weapons would not fit their fighting styles. Nor were they as proficient in hand-to-hand combat as most Huntsmen or Huntresses. Such things had just about gone the way of Earth's dinosaurs for Paula's people and his associates.

And it would take months, or maybe even years for them to be skilled enough in using such weapons for it to be worth the effort. It didn't help that he and Paula both viewed most mecha-shift weaponry as needlessly complex. With Paula going as far as calling them _'metal origami'_.

Even putting all that aside, there was still the inescapable fact that Paula did not have the sort of protective shielding Aura granted. So for her getting into hand to hand was very much not in her best interest.

Of course, all his purchases and activites were just him planning ahead. While he and Paula hadn't decided yet if they wanted to get involved with whatever scheme the White Fang were involved in, an ounce of prevention was worth a pound of cure. Even the Dust-gauntlet, the most expensive thing he'd needed to purchase, helped there in several ways. If they chose not to get involved, then it wouldn't have cost them too much with their funds and the weapon could still be used for other purposes.

By now, the Hand of the Shadows was swallowed up in the crowd, becoming just one person among many in the hustle and bustle of common humanity. Shoulders barged past him; while strangers barely glanced in his direction. And once, he had to step aside at the last moment to keep a green-haired woman who was busy texting on her Scroll from running into him. None of them aware they were in the presence of an alien to their world and a key servant of the Lords and Ladies of Chaos.

He continued all the while towards his unassuming destination, a nearby bus-stop to catch a ride to several possible apartments. For he and Paula did not plan on staying in the hotel room they'd rented indefinitely. Then, he planned on returning to the hotel for the rest of the day.

Shaidar had spent most of this morning looking around for possible places to fall back to or hide out at, should he and Paula need to go to ground. Or leave Vale in a hurry. Unfortunately, Shaidar could not do as he had then and create a flying platform disguised as a motorcycle to travel around. Not without drawing unnecessary attention to himself on a crowded street.

All while he resumed walking, he listened to the sounds of the bustling city, the way a musician might listen for a familiar tune. At the same time, he took notice of how more than a few people were going about their business with pale and worried faces.

"_Everything will be back to normal soon enough, you'll see! We're in a time of peace after all."_

"_I should have known this would happen with those Pale Tooth whackos running around!"_

"_Yes honey, I'm fine, look I'll only be in Vale for two more days, the police say there's nothing to worry about." _

"_I still say that the guest they had on Hound News was on to something. The White Fang are the ones who've been responsible for all those Dust shop robberies, just like they were with the train!"_

"_...you can't trust them! Remember that time Alexander got mugged by..."_

"_How could this have happened? We're supposed to be living in a time of peace!"_

This was not the first time today he'd heard such talk. In particular, the variations of 'we're in a time of peace'. He might have dismissed it as people trying to reassure themselves by clinging to the everyday. Save that it seemed to crop up everywhere he looked in some form or another. In documentaries, on news reports and on the street. It was starting to become worrying. And not just because Shaidar was British and had a grasp of history. In this case, with Neville Chamberlain's attempt to sign a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany in the 1930's, believing it would give the British Empire _'peace for our time'_.

Despite what most locals seemed to think, it was becoming more and more obvious to him that Remnant hadn't been at peace for several years now. Maybe even as far back as a decade or more. He'd need more research to be sure of that.

As for why the Hand of the Shadows thought Remnant was in a state of denial, despite having only been on the world for a little more than a day, it was in part from being an outsider looking in on their society. So he wasn't as caught up in the local cultural biases. At the same time, he was not so much an outsider that Remnant's people were wholly alien to him. The Kingdoms did have stunning cultural and historical similarities to the societies of Earth.

The other part, of course, was from his role as an agent of the Shadows. Given their philosophy of using strife to push development along, the Shadows and their agents had long learned how to spot what signs to look for, what weak points to nudge to bring the galaxy spiraling down into chaos. A single word in the right ear, an abandoned technological toy, a handful of deaths could have massive, unpredictable repercussions whose echoes could travel far indeed. It was easier to tip a planetary socio-economic system into chaos then it is to force it into order. And Shaidar had access to over ten-thousands years worth of knowledge on what signs to look for and how to do just that.

Besides all that and the whispers of the crowd, there was the Grimm wiping towns off the map. Not to mention bandit raids growing more numerous. There was also the White Fang. They might have been little more than a nuisance to the Kingdoms. But they were one that hadn't been stopped and had evidently grown more powerful than anyone seemed to have guessed.

The light changed and Shaidar joined the mass of people crossing the street.

Even before the dockyard battle, he'd known about the White Fang's robbery of a Schnee Dust Company train several months ago. At the time he'd thought it was a curious change to the White Fang's overall strategy. But had agreed with the news and intelligence reports he'd seen. Given the further lack of escalation in activity, what was known of the Fang's numbers and probable resources, it pointed to the attack being a one-off. A desperate move to both deny the SDC of merchandise and a way for the Fang to make a profit by selling off the stolen Dust themselves.

One man's terrorist might be another's freedom fighter. But in either case, the pay was awful and logistics still mattered. So he'd written it off.

A slight grimace, quickly suppressed, touched Shaidar's lip. Last night's events made that analyses doubtful. Even more so given what he'd learned this morning before setting out for the day.

_He'd been looking through the CCT Network for any updates or other Dust thefts to see if he might be able to figure out where the White Fang were based inside Vale when he'd stumbled upon the unpleasant information. _

"_Paula, it seems our situation is more complicated then we realized." he said as she settled down to eat breakfast, hair still damp from her morning shower._

"_Why, what have you found?"_

"_It seems someone's been sporadically robbing Dust shops across Vale for the past several months. From the __articles__ I found, they were all smash and grabs. The last one happened happened three days ago."_

"_Meaning it's either one hell of a coincidence, or Roman and the White Fang are behind it. And from what we saw last night, I'd say its the not by chance."_

"_That, and it means the White Fang have even more Dust then we thought." He agreed, unable to hide a stab of irritation towards himself. _

_He prided himself for being observant and for his role as Hand of the Shadows. That these Dust robberies had flown under his metaphorical radar, despite being in plain sight was a sore spot for him. As it was the sort of thing he'd been trained to notice._

_Then the brief __flare__ of emotion was gone and he was all cool business again. _

_Paula shot him a look, sighed. "Sometimes, shadow-boy, you really need to cut yourself some slack. Professional pride or not. We've only been on this world a day."_

"_True," he admitted, "But we're cut off from all resources, all contacts, on a world that seems to operate just outside our realms of collective experience." Remnant with it's strange technologies, pow__ers that were supernatural-but-not- quite-magic, and kingdoms besieged by an unending deluge of monsters. __There were so many gaps in their knowledge of Remnant __to contend with and in his experience the unknown was often dangerous. __Especially since both of them were somewhat used to having a network of support and contacts._ _"Not that carelessness is a luxury we're commonly afforded under the best of circumstances, but with the two of us alone..."_

_"Yeah it's...a mess." Paula admitted, her food untouched, "I definitely feel outside my wheelhouse with this place. For me it's..." She fidgeted with her fork, trying to find a metaphor, "...it's like __Beowulf__."_

_"I presume you mean the poem and not the variety of Grimm?" Shaidar queried._

_"Yeah, it's like reading __Beowulf__ for the first time." Paula explained, "It's supposed to be 'English' but it's almost incomprehensible aside from the occasional word or phrase. Maybe if you read it enough and you'll start to make sense of it, but that takes time." His partner sighed, "That's what this place is like for me, especially when trying to understand Aura and the like. I know it's something supernatural but I can't make sense of it."_

_Together with the Grimm and the stunning cultural similarities to Earth, the existence of Aura was another reason to suspect that Remnant was the result of some sort of experiment. It was unusual for a species to naturally develop what amounted to superpowers. Even with no solid proof of an outside force being responsible, it was more than enough to make him wary. _

_"An apt metaphor," Shaidar admitted as he took note of her demeanor and gently placed his hand on top of hers, "But I think it just means you can't make sense of it yet. And as long as we have each other we're not alone."_

It had been, Shaidar thought as he climbed onto the bus, a worrying reminder of just how vulnerable he and Paula were right now. They were two people with limited resources and manpower. And their investigation into the White Fang would hit a few speed bumps. All which meant he and Paula would be stuck reacting and trying to play catch up more than normal. Which was never a good position to be in.

* * *

**Chapter ****Notes:**

This chapter and the following one were originally going to be one chapter, but I decided to split it up so I could get it out faster for you, my readers. As well as due to what the length would have been.

Ozpin was an interesting character to write, especially with what we know of him as of Volume 6. I was _terribly_ tempted to name the _Mantle Liberation Front_ the _Mantle International Liberation Front_ or something similar, but decided to forgo that bit of humor.

Also, while SG and Paula might dislike mecha-shift weaponry, let me nip any potential worries in the bud by saying that I have zero plans or intentions of having anyone in the cast of RWBY ditch their own weapons in favor of more conventional ones.

* * *

Once more, thank you to everyone who's favored, followed or commented on my story!

**Alucard45:**

Oh trust me, we'll be seeing a lot more of team RWBY bonding and interacting. As for your thoughts on my original characters; without spoiling anything, I can say that I've put a great deal of thought into how they and team RWBY will interact. As for my OC's taking a spotlight away from team RWBY, my intention has always been to try and keep the screen time of both groups balanced. If not slanted in the RWBY character's direction.

Now, on your final point...again, no spoilers, but the next few chapters will be the lead in to RWBY and my original characters working together. Because your absolutely right in that the meet-up has to make sense and fit. A story needs build up to give the proper pay-off. Of course, wait too long and people will get bored or disappointed.

**Battle1:**

Thanks! That's actually part of the reason why I chose Yang's point of view there. As well as to show her position as Team Mom for Team RWBY. I'm quite relieved to hear that you liked seeing Shaidar and Paula put thing together. As in my experience, that sort of dialogue can easily come off as boring or make one of the characters look dumb if everything is getting explained to them. As for the future just wait and see, fun times are ahead for all!

**Paladin:**

Thanks you very much, I'm glad you enjoyed the fight and how I did the aftermath. Ruby and Yang were fun to write and I think I did a good job of _not_ making Yang too overprotective. Which is something that crops up an awful lot in RWBY fics, much to my irritation. I'm quite happy that the scene with SG and Paula figuring things out went over well with you too.

As for Shaidar and Paula not coming across as 'baddies', that was intentional on my part. I try to write Shaidar and Paula as 'normal' people whose outlook has been twisted by ideology. Which makes them both more reliable but also sort of unsettling and alien, as they fundamentally still believe they're 'the good guys'. It also helps contrast them with Cinder and the various other RWBY antagonists working with Salem. Most of whom come across as being just bad people or people who've realized too late that they've gotten in too far over their heads.

That and by not hiding Shaidar and Paula's nature and trying to pull a _'what at tweest!' _down the road, I'm hoping to give the narrative a feeling of lurking dread whenever Shaidar and Paula show up. And especially when they interact with Team RWBY or JNPR. Well, that and because such reveals rarely are pulled off well.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter ****Notes:**** Well. That only took…**

***Looks at the date of the last update and sighs* **

**...over 8 months. Hope you can forgive me for that and that you enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 6**

* * *

With a final exclamation of sound, the clash of steel died.

As the last echoes faded from the combat training room, Weiss Schnee raised her head to see the various combatants were rising from where they'd fallen. Already, her teammates and JNPR were excitedly talking among themselves. The good natured bantering and arguments between friends. Laughter and lighthearted congratulations filled the air in an excited, confusing babble as they began walking towards the sidelines, where water bottles and towels lay on benches.

Her heart still racing in her chest from the fight, Weiss picked herself up off the floor, hands brushing off her white combat skirt as she dusted herself off and joined everyone else as they headed towards the sidelines.

"...was so cool Ren! You were all _Hooowaaah! Witchaaaa!" _Ruby exclaimed as she scooped up Crescent Rose from the floor. The weapon had been knocked from her hands by Pyrrha during the fight. On that thought, Weiss made a mental note to speak with her partner later about that.

"Thank you Ruby. You and your team fought well too." Ren replied, speaking in his customary calm tone. Turning to Blake, he continued, "You in particular almost had me a few times and fought with unusual ferocity."

"Yeah, I don't think I've seen you fight that hard since that match with Cardin." Jaune chimed in, sheathing his sword as he did. To Weiss's quiet surprise, he managed to do so in one attempt and didn't trip over his own two feet.

Blake replied with an awkward, almost curt, "Thanks."

Weiss paused in dabbing sweat off her face with a towel to shoot her teammate a side-ways look.

On the surface, one could be mistaken into thinking that black-haired Student-Huntress was one of the most composed, stoic huntresses currently within the Academy's walls. But Weiss knew how wrong that impression could be. And since this morning, Blake had been acting more anti-social and moody than usual. While not a surprise given recent events, it was still enough to make Weiss worry about her.

For a moment, she thought about finding a moment to speak with Blake in private. Before dismissing the idea. The two of them were already walking on eggshells around each other. And given how Blake had _always_ been rather distant to her, Weiss didn't know where the two of them stood, regardless of their words last night.

Also, there was the conversation she'd overheard by accident between Blake and Yang this morning. If she wasn't willing to accept her own partner's help, Weiss couldn't imagine that Blake would appreciate her trying to pry either.

"_Blake, I'm not sure it's a good idea for you to be practicing anything after last night." _Weiss heard Yang say from the other side of the row of lockers.

"_Yang, I'll be fine." _Blake's voice was firm, before softening._ "But...thank you for your concern."_

Weiss could hear the smile in Yang's voice,_"What else are __friends__ for? And my door's always open if you want to talk."_

"I'd say that was quite a productive sparring session." Pyrrha commented.

"Yeah! And another victory for_ Teammm JNPR!" _Glee flashed in Nora's bright blue eyes.

"Pfft, we still won one more match then you guys." Ruby pointed out, although her tone was good-natured.

**"**I'd say it was more painful than productive." That was Jaune, rubbing his right shoulder in obvious discomfort.

Yang finished taking a swig of water from a black water bottle with her yellow emblem on it's side and said, "You know Jaune my dad has a saying: No pain, no gain."

**"**Then I must be a _lot_ stronger now." He groaned.

"You still need to work on shielding your head and legs, butI do think you showed a lot of improvement in the fight." Pyrrha said.

Which, Weiss had to admit, was true enough. His stance and swordplay wasn't nearly as atrocious as it'd once been.

Not for the first time, Weiss found herself wondering how someone as clumsy and unprepared as Jaune had managed to get his way into Beacon Academy in the first place.

**"**...Really?" His blue eyes were hopeful.

"Yes, I'm certain the others would agree." Pyrrha answered.

Around her, Weiss could hear and see the rest of Teams RWBY and JNPR give nods and voice their agreement. Even though some carried a hint of uncertainty to them.

"I respectfully disagree," she stated. Despite her attention being on Jaune, the Schnee heiress could feel the reproachful looks she was getting. She ignored them. Because while Jaune might have improved, he still needed to take major strides if he wanted to get better. Besides, Weiss saw no point in giving him more fuel for his on-and-off attempts to flirt with her by agreeing with Pyrrha. Even so, Weiss couldn't help but feel a twinge of pity at his clear dejection.

Though this barely lasted an instant before Nora butted her way into the conversation. "I think you've gotten better fearless leader!"

Jaune seemed thankful for the seconds' worth of an expression Weiss got to see.

"I mean it used to take half that long for someone to knock you down." Nora continued cheerfully.

_"Ouch!"_ Weiss heard Yang mutter.

**"**...uh thanks," was Jaune's hesitant and awkward reply.

"What I think Nora means is that self-improvement is a journey, not a destination." Ren spoke up.

Nora blinked, "Huh...yeah I guess I did, although it sounds _way_ better when you say it that way."

"I think you've really gotten a lot better Jaune..." chimed in Ruby, a thoughtful expression on her face. "And Pyrrha I do think that was a pretty good session. In fact I think we should make it a regular thing."

**"**You do? Why?" Jaune asked, touched by Ruby's sincerity.

Ruby nodded. "I mean it was a lot of fun for one thing!" Even as Nora and Yang gave their own nods of agreement, Weiss shot Ruby a look of mild disapproval. Before Weiss could say anything, Ruby continued. "And...I think it'd be good practice for the Vytal Festival."

Now that was an idea Weiss could completely agree with. She could see Yang also approved of her little sister's more mature reasoning. While Nora had a distant look in her eyes that made Weiss think she was envisioning more fights.

**"**I guess more practice can't hurt..." Jaune mused, "Alright, Team JNPR what do you think?"

"That sounds _awesome!_" Nora exclaimed with a grin.

"Aye." Ren said.

"I think it's a wonderful idea!" Pyrrha smiled.

"Alright!" Ruby punched the air with both hands, "Team RWBY? All in favor say 'aye'!"

"Sure." Blake shrugged as Yang, a wide grin spreading across her face, gave a cheer of "Yeah!"

An uneasy silence fell as JNPR and the rest of the Team RWBY turned to her. Weiss met their gaze unflinchingly. **"**I'm willing to vote 'aye' on one condition." She gave Team JNPR's leader a frosty glare.

Jaune pointed a finger at himself, seeming confused as to why she was glaring at him. Then a crestfallen look of comprehension dawned on his face."...Oh...okay, I understand. Sure, Weiss."

**"**In that case, aye." Weiss said.

"If we are going to be training together regularly perhaps we could use this as an opportunity to help one another improve?" Ren suggested.

"Oh, I could upgrade everyone's weapons!" Ruby offered excitedly, "I have so many ideas!"

Weiss saw Ren smile, and found herself doing so as well, caught up by Ruby's enthusiasm. Before she noticed how Ren's expression had become pensive.

"Perhaps in exchange for an upgrade, I could help you work on your unarmed combat skills?" Ren suggested to Ruby.

At that Ruby's enthusiasm seemed to dampen for some reason."I'm just not good at throwing punches." She said with some embarrassment, "I don't think more lessons are going to help me."

"No...I don't think they will either," Ren replied, thoughtfully, as if to himself. "I think working on your kicks would be more productive."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked, puzzled.

"Most of your moves involve punching or blocking head on. But that's working against you if you're fighting someone larger or stronger than you. Even with Aura, you don't have the strength to do that."

To the side, Weiss noticed Yang cringing at Ren's words. In an instant, Weiss realized what had happened. Well-meaning big sister that she was, Yang had noticed her sister's lack of unarmed fighting skill. So she'd tried to teach Ruby in her own style, but had by mistake made things worse.

"So what do you think she should do instead?" Weiss questioned, as Ruby seemed too busy absorbing what Ren has said to ask for herself.

Just as Yang was undoubtedly beating herself up for her mistake, Weiss was too busy feeling annoyed at herself for not taking notice of Ruby's issue herself. She was supposed to be her partner for goodness sake!

"She needs to be lighter on her feet. Use kicks, knees and elbows to win by evading them. Or by turning her opponent's power against them." Ren answered.

"Well...I supposed I could give it a try…" Ruby said.

"Speaking of which, you might want to get that looked at Yang." Pyrrha said.

"Hrmm?" Yang made a questioning sound, as the perspiring blonde paused in shrugging off her brown jacket and orange scarf, revealing more of the yellow crop-top she wore underneath.

If Weiss had to make a guess, Yang probably wanted nothing more then to peel off her clothes and take a shower. Feeling increasingly aware of how her own sweaty clothes were clinging to her skin, Weiss was looking forward to doing herself.

"That bruise on your shoulder." Jaune pointed.

Even before her gaze followed to where he was pointing, Weiss's mind flashed back to the battering Yang had taken from the bullhead's guns last night. But this was the first time she'd seen any sign of that. In fact, it's one of the few times she'd seen Yang get injured at all. She had to admit it was a nasty looking thing, it's purplish hue marring Yang's skin.

"Oh goodness, I didn't realize I hit you that hard." Nora exclaimed, her eyes apologetic.

"No, it's okay it wasn't your fault." Yang hastily reassured her.

There was a short pause as Team RWBY's resident blonde exchanged glances with her sister.

"Um, you see..." Ruby said.

With that the two sisters launched into a slightly modified re-telling of the events of last night. Somehow, they both were managing to make sure that the other didn't give away something they shouldn't by accident. It was a story that Weiss only half-listened to, having been there when the four of them had made up an almost identical tale last night for the police and Professor Goodwitch at the docks.

It was only after in the privacy of their own dorms that the four of them had argued about if they'd tell Team JNPR anything and how much of the truth would be involved. Given the lies they'd told team JNPR that day about where Blake had gone and their own plans for the day, they'd decided that it'd be better to keep the whole truth a secret. In part out of embarrassment and in part to keep things simple.

Though after a few near-fumbles last night with the police and Professor Goodwitch, Ruby and Yang had volunteered to be the ones telling the story to JNPR. The sisters claimed to have a talent for it, a habit for getting out of trouble they'd honed over the years with their father and someone Ruby had referred to as 'Uncle Crow'.

According to the story Yang and Ruby would now be telling, the two of them and Weiss had returned to Vale late that afternoon after visiting Yang and Ruby's father at Patch. Whereupon they'd bumped into Blake, who'd come back from visiting her relatives after hearing rumors that something might be happening at the docks that night. When the four of them had investigated, they'd run into the White Fang and Roman Torchwick stealing a Schnee Dust shipment. The rest of the story, with Team RWBY fighting off the criminals was more-or-less the truth of what'd happened. Though Ruby and Yang would be careful to omit Blake being a former member of the White Fang from their story.

It was a decision Weiss had known she'd have to go along with, even if it was begrudgingly. Even if it was her memories of the White Fang, not anything Blake had done, that made her so embittered. Weiss knew that telling JNPR would risk re-starting the argument between herself and Blake. As for Blake, the Faunus wasn't comfortable with revealing that part of her past to team JNPR. At least not yet. Which Weiss could understand. As far as secrets went, this one was massive.

"You should have seen it! Yang was all _'Ahhhh!' _And then, pow! Punched out it's gun!" Ruby pantomimed, to which JNPR looked suitably impressed.

"Hey, you were pretty awesome with Crescent Rose too!" Yang laughed.

Weiss glanced over at Blake, who was busy unloading and stowing away Gambol Shroud. All while doing what Weiss thought was a somewhat credible impression of not paying attention.

Still, Weiss could only draw small comfort in the knowledge that Blake had left the White Fang for good. The White Fang might have 'officially' turned militant only five years ago, but there'd always been Faunus who'd been willing to use violence in the name of equality.

At times Weiss forgot how few people seemed to realize how it wasn't just her family and high-ranking officials who'd been made targets. For every high-profile board member, relative or family friend who went missing, there were dozens more police, employees and shop owners. All of whom had been injured, killed or vanished without a trace. Either for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time or for the 'crime' of being an employee of her father's company. All while those same Faunus claimed their actions were done in the name of 'justice' in the face of 'human oppression'.

As for the White Fang, they had done precious little to stop those Faunus outside of officially condemning their actions. Those condemnations grew more infrequent as the years passed. Weiss had been almost twelve when rumors began to spread that there were those within the White Fang sheltering those criminal Faunus. Other rumors told of growing pressure on the organization's leadership to allow the Faunus to take 'more aggressive measures' to ensure equality. Rumors that she now knew probably had more than their share of truth to them, given how many of those earlier criminals had been captured wearing Grimm-masks over the past five years.

Growing up, Weiss had understood little of this at first. But it had been enough to give her nightmares for months and terrified her at the thought of her big sister Winter would vanish. To this day Weiss had plenty of bitter memories of her parents arguing. Of just how much colder her father had become towards everyone around him. To her mind, the actions of those Faunus had played a large part in dividing and ruining her family.

Of course, Weiss wasn't stupid. She knew that her father hadn't been the most pleasant person to begin with. That the Schnee Dust Company didn't have the best track record when it came to treating the Faunus. But that did not excuse the deaths and terror the Faunus had caused for so many people. It was because of this that when it came to the White Fang and those who backed them that Weiss favored the hammer, rather than diplomacy.

"…then we got questioned by the police and Professor Goodwitch." Ruby finished.

"But I don't understand, why didn't we heard about this on the news?"Jaune questioned.

Feeling that she'd be the best one to explain this and feeling that she'd been quiet for too long, Weiss answered,"For investigative reasons it's being covered up for now. And Professor Goodwitch thought it'd be a good idea for our protection if our involvement wasn't known anyway."

"We aren't really supposed to be talking about this with anyone either." Blake chimed in smoothly.

"I'm sorta glad my dad won't hear about it." Ruby commented quietly.

Her sister nodded, her own voice subdued, "Yeah, he'd panic if he heard we were fighting terrorists in the first semester at Beacon."

"...I can't see my father being pleased about this either." Weiss admitted with hesitation. Though how much would be worried about her or about her saying the wrong thing and create issues for the Company's reputation. As if he wasn't doing enough of that himself according to popular opinion.

Pyrrha shot her a glance that Weiss couldn't define. Knowing, perhaps?

"Well, your secret is safe with us. Right guys?" Jaune said, in an obvious attempt to get the gloomy subject off their minds.

"Actually..." Blake began, keeping her hands clasped together in her lap, "there's something else you guys should know."

**-RWBY-**

Blake clasped her hands tighter in her lap to keep them from shaking.

"About the fight?" Jaune guessed.

"No, about me." Blake explained keeping her voice even, "Something I've kept hidden since I got here. My team only found out recently and we felt that you should know too."

She could feel all eyes on her, something that could induce discomfort under the best of circumstances. While she wasn't as close to the members of JNPR as she was to her own team, they were still part of her new life here at Beacon. But it was too late to back out now so she took a deep breath to help steady her hands.

Time seemed to slow down and she began untying the bow, as JNPR's expressions went from perplexed and curious to surprised. Her ears twitched.

_"Oh, gods they're sooo cuuute!"_Nora exclaimed, which only served to remind Blake, now pink-faced with embarrassment, of Ruby's reaction the previous night.

Jaune's response, in contrast, was surprisingly nonplussed.

"Huh," The blonde boy muttered, "I did not see that coming." He then shrugged. It was then that Blake noticed Ren giving his teammates an odd look.

"Really?" Ren responded, and gestured to the ribbon she now held in her hands, "You never wondered why her bow kept twitching?"

"It _twitched_?" Jaune now sounded bewildered, which elicited a small sigh from Ren. The cat Faunus though was too focused on the fact that he'd apparently deduced the truth some time ago.

_He knew, but he never told anyone, he never treated me any differently. _Blake thought as she stared at the ever-stoic boy. Ren glanced her way and nodded ever slightly, she sent him a small, grateful smile in turn. The Feline Faunus then took notice of Pyrrha standing over her. Any concern over Blake had regarding her lapse in situational awareness faded at the sight of the Mistrali girl's sympathetic expression.

"Thank you for confiding in us Blake," Pyrrha said, one hand on the Faunus's shoulder and the other over her heart, "we are both honored and touched by your trust in us."

From most people, those words might have sounded corny at best or insincere at worst. But much like Ruby, there was genuineness to the red-haired champion that made them moving.

Looking from the green-eyed girl to the rest of Team JNPR, their friendly faces Blake found it almost overwhelming. As Pyrrha rejoined her teammates, Adam's many rants that acceptance outside the White Fang wasn't possible played in Blake's mind. Ruby and Yang asking JNPR to keep her heritage seemed distant compared to the words that played in her head like a mantra:

_Adam was __wrong. _She found strength in those words as she tied the ribbon back around her ears. Blake pictured him without flinching, for a moment daring to imagine herself standing in front of him. _You__. Were. Wrong._

**-RWBY-**

As Team RWBY made their way back to the dormitories Yang Xiao Long kept glancing at Blake. She definitely looked like someone who'd just had a huge load taken off her shoulders. The blonde boxer suspected she was the only one to have taken notice of her partner's change in disposition. Ruby and Weiss were busy trying to organize the upcoming joint training sessions with JNPR. It was nice that they were finally getting along.

Turning her thoughts back to her own partner, Yang couldn't help but feel glad that Blake was more open about herself around not just her own team but JNPR. Likewise, throughout their first semester at Beacon, she'd tried to invite Blake to hang out with her and some of her friends from Signal. But Blake tended to turn those offers down.

"So Blake," Yang spoke, getting the dark-haired girl's attention, "any plans for later?"

"Well," her partner looked away brushing a few strands of her long black hair behind her ear, "I do actually."

"Oh?" Yang tried not to sound too disappointed but couldn't help but notice something odd about Blake's expression.

"Sun asked me to give him a tour of Beacon." She clarified, her cheeks slightly pink.

The edge of a mischievous grin grew on the blonde's face, disappointment gone. She was happy that her friend was branching out and meeting new people. _Buuut_ Yang was going to have some fun.

"Oh~?" She repeated but in a more playful tone, "He asked you out?"

Blake's cheeks went from pink to red, a sight Yang found almost as adorable as her little sister getting flustered. "And you said yes?" Yang prompted.

"He's a guest from another academy," Blake said defensively, before seeming to suddenly become very interested in the wall opposite of them. "I'm just being nice."

"Oh don't get like that Blake, I get it!" Yang insisted, causing her partner to give her a dubious look. "A guy willing to help you wage your one-woman war against a dangerous organization for two days on end? He definitely sounds like someone at least worth a second date."

"First of all, we didn't spend the whole two days fighting the White Fang." Blake corrected.

Yang's eyebrows rose at that.

Which prompted the feline Faunus to add, "And before you ask nothing for you to get excited about, we went to a cafe together..." Blake trailed off at the sight of Yang's merrily dancing eyebrows and buried her face into her hands, "I'm not saying anything else."

"What's the matter?" Yang teased, "Cat got your tongue?"

Her partner's reaction was everything Yang could've hoped for, the other looking up at her with an almost pained expression. To which Yang grinned in triumph at her clever joke.

Blake sighed, "You're terrible."

"For your information I'm hilarious!" Yang declared and, then in a gentler tone, said: "In all seriousness, I'm glad you had someone you could talk to during that mess. And I hope you two have fun."

"Thanks Yang."

**-RWBY -**

"_The robbery was led by_ _nefarious criminal Roman Torchwick, who continues to evade authorities,"_ said the voice of a male news reporter. "_If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Vale Police Department. Back to you, Lisa."_

Paula made a face as she watched the news report from three months ago continue on. Before pausing the video with a finger to the laptop's touchscreen.

That was the third piece of media coverage she'd seen today covering the robbery of the shop _Dust 'till Dawn._ By now a lack of any real information of Roman Torchwick's last known sighting before yesterday was almost expected.

So Paula was still stuck with the basics. That Torchwick had tried to rob the shop for its Dust, failed and escaped, but not before causing property damage. Only two articles had mentioned anything new. Which had been that he'd had hired help that had been apprehended thanks to a passing Huntress. Although even those details had been vague- that Huntress hadn't even been named.

The decision to begin by looking into Roman Torchwick's activities had been an easy one. He was the most public-known lead they had at the moment. So in theory it would be more straightforward to try and track down his previous activities.

Such a task would be much easier than searching records for the handful of names that Paula had uncovered at the dockyard. As both she and Shaidar suspected that most, if not all, of those names weren't anyone notable within the White Fang or general public. That wasn't to say looking into those names was off the table; just a lower priority at the moment.

Then there was the question of why someone that was at best a petty criminal would get involved with the White Fang. As Shaidar pointed out at the dockyard, there were no signs that Torchwick had a previous affiliation with the White Fang.

True it was possible, if somewhat unlikely, that the radical Faunus group had started recruiting criminals to do their dirty work. But that seemed unlikely given what she'd found out about the White Fang. Plus it didn't match with what she'd picked up telepathically at the dockyards.

Even if that was so, Torckwick's involvement still raised questions. His actions didn't fit his personality. At least not based on what they'd uncovered about him, or again, what she'd sensed from him the previous night. He was too self-interested and self-important. Such a person wouldn't fight for a cause when there wasn't anything in it for him.

Deciding she needed a new approach, Paula again touched the laptop's screen with an opera-gloved hand. Although here in Remnant, personal computers like it were instead called Grimmores. It was much like a laptop from Earth, save that the screen was a touch-sensitive hologram. This was projected from the frame on the lid. The lid itself seemed to exist for the purpose of protecting the keyboard and preventing the Grimmore from being turned on by accident when the computer was shut off.

Such a naming choice had, as a magic user, amused her when she'd first heard it. That had been last night, when she and Shaidar had stolen the Grimmore from an electronics store that had been closed for the night.

That said, part of her still wanted to slap upside the head whatever cosmic coincidence that had given the Nevermore and Beowolf Grimm their names. As she'd like to do whoever had decided that a pale green screen was a good idea for a computer. She's been forced to change the one on the Grimmore into something more normal

Having found and opened the Vale Police Department's website, Paula was quick to get to work. She did hope that any reports on the _Dust 'till Dawn_ robbery and its aftermath was publically available. Otherwise, she'd be giving the Vale Police Department a personal visit in the near future.

However, it seemed she was fortunate here. As she started looking through the various files on the robbery, Paula reflected on how it was lucky Remnant was in the Information Age. And arguably further along it then Earth was.

It was not the only time she'd had those thoughts today. The first had been when she'd been familiarizing herself with the White Fang's history. Which she'd done by focusing on their recent activities and worked her way backwards the past few years. As well as what signs to look out for when it came to their activities. Not to mention trying to settle her own unease at the idea of possibly working alongside the Faunus organization. Although she and Shaidar hadn't picked a side yet- or even if they were going to involve themselves after all.

Of course, the reason Paula was so thankful that Remnant was in the Information Age was simple. The half-Cerberi remembered how, both when she was growing up and her early days as a Guardian, how difficult getting information could be. Back in those days, before anyone could whip out their smartphone to settle any bar bet, she would have had to go digging through archived newspaper reports at the local library.

She didn't need Shaidar's tactical insight to know that for all their abilities and power, the pair of them were just two people with limited resources and manpower. They could only watch from afar and stay elusive for so long before someone either discovered them. Or events spiraled beyond their ability to shape.

That last particular thought sat uncomfortably in the back of her mind as she continued reading photocopies of the police report and transcripts of interviews with various people involved with the robbery. She soon found herself so engrossed, she almost didn't notice the squabble happening below her window between two Faunus and a human.

It was about a useful hour later that Paula closed the website and turned to the open window. One hand came up to rub her neck, trying to work out the beginnings of a knot of tension before she mused over what she'd learned.

It seemed that the robbery was initially foiled by none other than Ruby Rose, who just so happened to be in the shop at the time. Based on the file's description- _female, 15 years of age, silver eyes, student at Signal Academy Combat School, armed with a 'High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe (Crescent Rose)'_\- Paula had no doubt that this is the same Ruby Rose she and Shaidar encountered yesterday.

Although she'd initially been more than a little puzzled as to why the police had bothered to write down the name of Ruby's weapon. Until she'd taken a second to think back to her impressions of Ruby. And _then_ Paula started wondering just_ how many times_ the overly cheerful teenager had repeated the name of her weapon for the police taking notes to get them to put it in the report.

Regardless, after his hired goons were defeated, Torchwick attempted to escape; with Ruby giving chase to a rooftop. Once there, he'd clambered onto a Bullhead that had suddenly revealed itself as if out of nowhere. Which, Paula had noted, was all but identical to how the aircraft at the dockyards had behaved.

Taking advantage of the situation, Torchwick tried to kill Ruby by exploding a Dust crystal he'd stolen earlier. A somewhat embarrassed Ruby Rose admitted in the police report that she'd been blinded by the Bullhead's spotlight and could barely make out that Roman had thrown something at her feet.

At that point the Huntress Glynda Goodwitch had managed to intervene in the fight, using her Semblance to block Roman's attack and prevent him from setting off the Dust crystal. From police testimony, Beacon's Deputy Headmistress had been in the area and had volunteered. As being a Huntress, she was better trained and equipped to bring down people like Roman Torchwick. All while the police, who'd started arriving on the scene, focused on evacuating and locking down the area until the fighting was over.

Having saved Ruby's life, Goodwitch had attempted to take down the Bullhead, only to be confronted by a mysterious Dust user on-board the aircraft. Neither Ruby or Goodwitch could offer much of a description. Just that this unknown person was female, might have been wearing a red dress and seemed to have glowing orange eyes.

That last description, along with the phrase 'a full-blown wizard's duel' between this mysterious individual and Goodwitch entertained her. Not the most professional of descriptors but amusing to read, imagining some poor officer used to dealing with normal crime trying to describe something so fantastical was even more so.

"Glowing orange eyes," The redhead's full lips curved in a mischievous smirk as repeated the line out-loud. "I oughta ask shadow-boy if he has relatives out here I should know about." She joked, using her somewhat private pet name for Shaidar Gorthule.

After that brief battle, the Bullhead had flown off, leaving everyone else to clean up the mess and round up Roman's hired help, which Ruby had knocked out of the fight earlier.

Speaking of which, Paula knew only a little more about them then she had at the start. True, she knew that Roman had been assisted by several well-dressed men black suits and red sunglasses. Although transcripts of police questioning made it clear that they didn't know what Roman had planned, only that they'd been hired on by him. Paula had been unable to find any information about who Roman hired them from. Not to mention how, by all signs, they'd been discreetly released from police captivity some time later on an anonymous cash bail.

Putting all that aside, Paula found it extremely telling that Torchwick had been trying to steal Dust even all though months ago. Given the spat of minor Dust robberies that Shaidar had discovered, as well as the incident at the docks, she was now all but certain that he'd never stopped. Which meant that whatever scheme Torchwick was involved with had been going on for a long time now.

It was also notable that all his hired goons were human. Which could mean Roman wasn't working with the White Fang yet at the time of that first robbery. Of course, it might also mean he'd been trying to hide that fact to avoid attracting attention.

As for the mysterious Dust-users, Paula knew she didn't have enough to make any guesses about her or her arrangement with Torchwick yet. That this woman hadn't appeared at the dockyard didn't say much either. She could have died somehow in the intervening three months, been busy elsewhere or was no longer a part of Torchwick's scheme.

However, what caught Paula's interest the most was how this whole series of events had played out. She could help but find it curious and odd- and she knew Shaidar would agree once she told him about it.

It seemed too great of a coincidence for both Ruby and Goodwitch to have just so happened to be in the area to get involved with the stopping robbery. Vale was enormous, so even if they'd just been out for a walk at the right time, the chance of being in the right place was tiny.

There was also how both had been conveniently armed as well at the time. Huntresses or not, Paula couldn't see many people going out armed to the teeth when they wanted to pick up some groceries or what have you.

All in all, it was a **lot** of coincidences. If it was only one or two, Paula could believe this was something odd, but explainable. This many? Not so much. Something more was going on, she almost could taste it.

Paula wondered if Goodwitch at least might have gotten some sort of tip-off or had other reasons to be suspicious that _Dust 'Till Dawn_ was going to be robbed. Only to dismiss the idea in an instant. If that had been the case, then Paula was certain Torchwick and the White Fang would have been met at the docks or their other store robberies by full-fledged Huntsmen and Huntress.

Paula frowned. Not for the first time since she'd learned about the Huntsmen System, Paula found herself wondering at the Kingdoms. It was almost unsettling how much they had set themselves up to depend on the Huntsmen and Huntresses. On Earth, it would be like the United States disbanding the majority of its armed forces in favor of the alphabet soup groups- CIA, MJ-12 and FBI- with private military contractors doing all the heavy lifting.

Putting that thought aside for the moment, Paula wondered what she and Shaidar could do next. As a tactile psonic, she couldn't help but pick up psychic imprints from anything her bare hands touched. Would it be worth it to break into the Vale Police Department to check for telepathic imprints on the various pieces of evidence that had been recovered?

Probably not. But not because she imagined there would be any real difficulty in breaking in- she could do that easily even without Shaidar's help if she wanted to. The real issue was that by now any psychic residue on the items recovered as evidence from _Dust 'till Dawn_ would have faded away in the past three months.

As for the more recent robberies at the various other Dust shops, by all accounts those all had been smash and grabs. So there would be little to no evidence left behind. And trying to get imprints from even the most recent robbery or the docks would be like...well, not so much like looking for a needle in a haystack. It would be trying to find one specific piece of hay among all the others. Besides, items that were only briefly handled, such as shell-casings for bullets would not hold much of an imprint to start with. Meaning they would fade even quicker.

And checking for CCT footage was out of the question- from what she'd gathered, none existed for any of the crime scenes. By some sort of cultural quirk, it seemed that security cameras were frowned upon by the general population.

Paula sat back in her chair with a quiet groan of frustration. She was considering going out for a walk to stretch her legs when an idea struck her. It gave her pause as she thought back. But before Paula could pursue it, her thoughts were distracted by a sensation in the back of her mind. A coolness, like a cloud covering the sun, dropping everything into darkness.

Recognizing that shadow and feeling it grow closer, Paul's lips curled into a warm smile. By the time there was the telltale sound of keys being inserted into a lock and Shaidar Gorthule stepped through the door, Paula was ready. Looking up from re-locking the door behind him, Shaidar returned her smile with one just as warm.

"Hey," She greeted, leaning close and kissing him gently on the lips. Enjoying the pleasurable and familiar sensation of his return kiss. "So what took so long? Did something happen, or are the buses here just as bad as back home?"

"Mostly the buses."

"So bad public transportation _is_ universal then." she mused.

Shaidar laughed before saying, "Anyway, I remembered the conversation we had yesterday. So I thought I'd grab these as well for you to experiment on, along with some Rock and Gravity Dust." He reached into the bag and pulled out a small glass container full of powdered blue crystal. It was Water Dust, unless she was mistaken. As Paula took it from his offering hand, he continued. "What's even better is that some of the fallback locations I scouted out would be perfect for you to experiment in. You wouldn't have to seriously worry about any interruptions, even if any accidents happened."

"You think of almost everything. " She said with a coy smile as she examined the glass container, out of the corner of her she noticed him sit another bag on the table, "More homework or do you have a kitchen sink in there?"

"Actually," Shaidar pulled out a couple of DVD cases, a couple of 'so-bad-they're-good' flicks of the sort they enjoyed watching and laughing at by the looks of them, "I thought we could do with a bit of fun to balance things out."

Paula huffed a little laugh, grinning as she sat down, "I stand corrected, you _did_ think of everything."

"I try my best." She heard him say as her gaze was drawn back to the bottle of crystalline powder. It's subtle glow hinting at the power locked within. If she could access that power it'd go a long way to putting them on equal footing with these Aura-users. It was a challenge she greatly looked forward too.

Although that made her consider how much the Dust, along with everything else Shaidar had planned to buy today, had cost.

Maybe it would be a good idea to find another source of money besides his electronic trickery. He might be one of the best military minds the Shadows had, but even he occasionally overlooked or forget things.

Perhaps, she mused, she could suggest setting themselves up as private detectives? It would let them make money off their skill set and gives them a plausible excuse for snooping around. Putting that idea away for a later conversation, she said,"I can't help but imagine how many mages back home wouldn't even bother with Dust."

"That attitude is precisely I respect their power but little else." He answered dryly, as he stepped around behind her, having no doubt noticed her discomfort. As he began to gently rub her shoulders, he continued, "They've become such stagnant people; no curiosity or drive to innovate."

She wordlessly agreed with that assessment, most mages back home had a '_don't question it'_ attitude when it came to their abilities. Paula though had always questioned, always tried to push the limits of what she could do, something that had given her a competitive edge over her siblings.

"You know that's one thing we have to give the people of this world: they don't lack imagination." Paula reflected as she put down the vial of Dust. She leaned back to fully enjoy Shaidar's massage as she continued reflecting on how the people of Remnant made use of their abilities, "A personal force field, one superpower, and Dust but damn if they don't put their all into getting the most out of it."

"Given their history, they've been forced to be creative to survive, even if they now live in a ' time of peace'." Shaidar made no effort to hide his contempt. Paula couldn't blame him for that. There was something unnerving about how often they'd heard or read the slogan repeated. Like being around a man who constantly felt the need to assure others that he was perfectly sane.

Oh, from a casual examination, it might _look l_ike the Kingdoms were still in a time of peace and had been so for years. But appearances were deceptive, as Paula knew well. She didn't need Shaidar's Shadow-augmentations or training to see that years of relatively uncontested dominance had caused the Kingdoms to develop several systematic flaws. As well as a bad case of denial.

Which, Paula knew, was one of the reasons why Shaidar was somewhat hesitant for them to start involving themselves. Although he'd only hinted at it, she knew him well enough to know that the philosophy of his associates was weighing heavily on his mind. As he'd said to her once, '_The nature of a culture archives definition in conflict. They either find themselves or find themselves lacking.' _Getting involved against the White Fang could just result in weakening Remnant further in the long run.

Of course, there were also their own skins to consider and they both knew it. If the locals couldn't handle whatever the White Fang were up to, if Remnant was going towards hell in a handbasket, they'd be caught up in it regardless of if they stood on the sidelines or not.

On the other hand, getting involved could easily put them in just as much risk. Not just from the White Fang but the Kingdoms and Huntsmen if they took a dislike towards Shaidar and herself for any number of possible reasons.

"So," Shaidar began, bringing her back to the present, "did you have any luck with your investigations?"

"Quite a bit in fact..." Paula trailed off, remembering her idea from earlier. "Actually, could you check something for me first? I think I might be onto something. I need you to look into someone, a student from that combat school, Signal."

"Sure. What's their name?" He asked.

"Ruby Rose."

"Alright then," Shaidar raised an eyebrow at the mention of the Student-Huntress they'd twice crossed paths with, but went about acquiring the information. She watched as he pulled up the relevant information on his Scroll for her benefit. "Curious…it seems she was bumped up two years almost three months ago to the day and set right off to Beacon Academy the very next day. Just in time for classes to start off for the new semester too."

"Can you find out when exactly?"

"Let's see...says it was the 3rd of Aprimay."

"I thought that might be the case," Paula muttered, her brow furrowing. Her thoughts turned inward as she went over the various pieces of information. Nobody had been killed in the previous robberies and most of the shops had insurance. Ruby by all accounts escalated what would've been just another robbery. Placing any bystanders present in danger when she took action. Which might not have been so bad if she'd succeeded in catching Torchwick but he'd escaped to step up his game.

Yet instead of being reprimanded, Ruby's involvement was scrubbed from public accounts of the incident. She'd even been rewarded with an early admittance into Beacon. Something didn't add up to as far as Paula was concerned.

Paula thought back to their own encounter with the girl and the magic she'd sense within her. That was the only other thing that made the would-be-heroine stand out unless there was some other context she was missing.

"Paula, you mind explaining what all this is about?" Shaidar asked, his voice calm and his eyes narrowed as he searched her face.

She let out a breath, collected her thoughts. And began telling him all that she'd uncovered.

* * *

**Chapter ****Notes:**

This chapter went through quite a few variations; including a few where we got to see the fight between RWBY and JNPR. However, I realized that wouldn't really serve much of a point.

Also, after much thought and debate, I've decided to treat everything post-Volume 3 of RWBY as broad strokes canon. That means that while elements like the Relics, Salem and the gods still exist, I've slightly reworked them. My reason for this is a simple one; while I mean no disrespect to the people at Rooserteeth, I can not help but feel that certain aspects of RWBY's writing could have been handled better.

That said, I will try my best to limit what changes I'm making, as well as to make them obvious when they come up, as a way to differentiate them from changes which have occured thanks the decisions of the characters. Although if anyone has any confusion they'd like me to clear up when it comes to this, please feel free to leave comments, as I would be more than happy to do so.

And as a final note, I'd just like to again give my warmest thanks to everyone who's not only favorite'd and followed this story, but left comments as well as being so very patient. I really appreciate that you guys and gals enjoy my story; it means a ton to me.

* * *

**No1:**

Whoops. And thank you! As I said, Ozpin was a particularly interesting and somewhat difficult character when it came to getting inside his head. For SG, I confess I'm not completely happy with how his section turned out. It feels a bit unwieldy and clunky at parts.

**Ranjira1988:**

No, not at all. I've never played a game of RIFTS in my life. Though having looked up the game, I completely see where you're coming from and why you'd think Shaidar and Paula are from it.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

* * *

Within a run-down house in the shady side of Vale, a petite girl in a stylish white and pink coat was getting fed up.

But then, Neopolitan was never one for grunt work. It wasn't fun, wasn't stylish and it entailed her trying __not __to be noticed. So all the small pleasures were lost. It was just the understanding she and Torchwick had. He lavishly worked on the setup, pulled a few strings and got down to the dirty details for his big entrance while Neo stole the show with the climax. Roman understood that, being the best __boss-slash-bestower-of-good-clothes __she could ask for.

But Roman wasn't here. He was confined to hiding from the authorities ever since he'd been spotted at the dockyard four days ago. Which meant for the past three days the only person who could be trusted not to screw everything up was Neo. So she was stuck looking into this railway bombing that Miss Mid-life Crisis was obsessed with.

...The things she did for her dummy.

"Look, I'm sorry but I can't help with any of that."

With a rustle of fabric, Neopolitan closed her delicate lace parasol and quirked a delicate eyebrow.

John Steele was a dark and unkempt man about a decade and a half older than Neopolitan. Not to mention almost twice her less-then-five foot height. Yet the would-be-informant still flinched at Neopolitan's unspoken question.

Neo almost narrowed her eyes. He was being unusually twitchy.

The man's next words tumbled out in a hurried stream. "Honestly, I don't know anything. Before you showed up and asked, I thought you and Roman were behind it. And your...uh, new partners."

Neopolitan couldn't help but frown. He wasn't the first person to say something like that to her. Not that made it much less irritating. It was the common option on the street, along with growing fears of the White Fang.

Even before the railway bombing had happened she-and Roman for that matter- suspected that fear was what Miss. Mid-life Crisis wanted. With so much Schnee Dust product vanishing into thin air, the White Fang's merry band of thugs would be right on the top of the list of suspects to anyone who had a brain. Or even half of one.

As it was, with part of the Schnee rail line getting blown up and fighting at the dockyard with a bunch of teenagers meant everyone who knew about it was convinced this was all part of some White Fang master plan. And that was a fair amount of people already, despite the official story being put out by the Vale Council of an 'industrial accident'.

Not that she and Roman were really sure about anything Cinder was doing. Even being forced to spend the better part of three months with her and the dumbass-duo had given Neo little understanding into the trio's much-vaunted Plan. Or rather Cinder's.

From what Neopolitian had seen, Miss Mid-life Crisis played her cards only a little further from the chest when it came to Emerald and Mercury then she did to Roman and herself. Which still meant Cinder was going about with her playing cards stuffed half-way into her own cleavage.

Smoothing the frown from her lips, Neo cocked her head a little to one side.

Steele's expression went first puzzled, then almost wounded. "No, of course I won't tell anyone about our meeting. And if I do find out anything you and Roman will be the first to hear about it."

"You'd better~" She answered in a playful singsong, giving him a small stack of Lien.

Pulling open the weather-warped door with a touch of Aura-enhanced strength, Neopolitian went on her way. The leisurely twirl of her parasol giving the impression of idleness as she stepped into the mid-day sunlight.

Even if the Lien she'd given Steele was more money then he deserved, there was something to be said about keeping one's employees happy. It played a role in the real reason why she was out here; not out of any loyalty to Cinder.

As Roman's close friend and confidant, he didn't have to say much for Neo to know that he was just as fed up with Cinder as she was. And putting aside the fiery bitch's personality- which was putting aside __a lot__\- there was the aftermath to consider.

They might not have more than an outline of Miss. Mid-life Crisis's plan, but what they did have was enough to worry them. The stakes were already getting too high. The sort of 'too high' that ended with no other criminal wanting to work with Roman and Neo. Which made selling stolen items difficult- the sort of reaction Steele had given was the start of it, or Neo was a Faunus. Not to mention spending the rest their days afraid of sneezing too loud and having every Huntsman or Huntresses around for miles coming after them.

Assuming they lived through it all to begin with. Both she and Roman wouldn't be surprised if Cinder planned to stab them in the back once she felt their usefulness was over.

Which brought her back to why she was looking into this. That someone could blow up part of a SDC railway without anyone knowing who they were and they weren't allied with Cinder made them an opportunity. One that she and Roman could use to wiggle out from Cinder's control.

Frankly, it was the perfect time to start looking for a way out from Cinder's thumb. She was busy trying to squeeze information out of the Vale branch of the Fang to make sure they haven't gone rogue- Cinder had already questioned Roman when she thought no one was looking to see what he knew. As well as keeping her vaunted Plan on track. While the White Fang was busy getting ever more fed up with her and protesting their innocence. All while trying to hide their unusual interest in that cat-Faunus from the docks. Though Neopolitian had no idea why they would be so interested in some random deserter. And Cinder's dumb-ass duo was busy with playing their role as exchange students for the Vytal Festival.

Neopolitain shook herself, eased her grip on the parasol handle. Enough of that. It was too nice a day to ruin by dwelling on the Terrible Trio.

****-RWBY-****

Unseen, water dripped down in slow, fat drops. The sound echoed among the cavernous warehouse factory.

Grimy daylight streamed through sooty windows that had yet to be smashed by the gangs that squabbled over the shady side of Vale, falling on scattered items and equipment. All of which had been deemed worthless when the factory owners had taken their business from the City of Vale for cheaper pastures.

Standing untouched among the rusting and rotting remains was Paula Ravenwood. Her lips continued moving as she murmured scraps of incantations. On occasion, she would repeat these words in a different order. Other times, she tried speaking faster and louder or soft and slow. Trying to focus her magic in different ways, one after the other before moving on to a different spell.

The focus of her efforts sat before her on a plate, which rested atop a rust- encrusted machining table. It was a small mound of powdered Water Dust. This had been carefully chosen; first by Shaidar, then by Paula herself. For Water Dust was one of the least volatile of the types of Dust.

By now, a mild exasperation was creeping into Paula's actions and mind. She'd already tried to mimic what normal Dust users would do, with no success so far. To be fair, it wasn't surprising to her. From all accounts, it could take months or even years for a person to become proficient with using Dust. Still, she hadn't let that deter her, as it would her sisters.

Frankly, she was more interested in -and believed she might have more success with- using Dust as a substitute in potion making. As Remnant lacked most of the more exotic materials that she normally used in some potions. Of course, if she did master Dust enough to use it like a 'Dust Mage' it would be a nice way for her to increase her firepower in a fight. Although right now she viewed that as more of a side-project.

Several more attempts and several minutes later, Paula decided to give it a rest for the day. It would be good to take a step back and reassess her approach. She'd pretty much run out of initial ideas or fragments of spells for the moment anyway.

With that, she headed over to where Shaidar Gorthule was sitting a short distance from where she'd been experimenting. As for his choice of a chair, it was a simplistic rectangular block of hard light he'd created.

While she walked to him, Paula noticed her lover exuded the image of a man lost in thoughtful calculation. His eyes seemed to be slight out of focus, gazing in front of him. As if he was looking at something only he could see. Which he probably was.

Like his secondary cybernetic neural implants, Shaidar's primary set augmented his mind. For him, the primary set were command and control cybernetics. As had been the case back when he and Paula had stood outside of Vale, it was thanks to those command and control modules in his brain that allowed him to multitask so efficiently. And to receive, process and act on information faster than an entirely organic individual could.

Which was why Paula was surprised that he didn't notice her walking to him. Instead his gaze remained dark in concentration. She could almost see, no feel, his mind in the process of planning without trying. Of the ideas and options flickering behind his eyes. Crafting ways forward. Though it would not be one most people would expect. For Shaidar was the sort of commander who would, almost automatically, approach his task from an angle.

It was then, as she was almost next to him that he noticed and looked up at her, his alien eyes flickering orange as they caught the light for the moment. "No luck today?"

"Nope," She answered, sitting down besides him and leaning into him a little.

In a soft tone he never used with anyone else he said, "Don't get discouraged, I know you'll figure it out eventually."

"I'm trying not to," she answered.

In truth, it was possible that she would be able to use Dust at all. And it might all be due to the simple fact that her form of magic and Dust were just too alien to work together. Which would be a shame. Lightning Dust in particular showed a lot of potential promise based on her research. Still, she'd still have the option of enchanting whatever new weapons she got her hands on. She could do that with little difficulty- and based on their encounter four days ago in the forest, Grimm were as vulnerable to anti-demon weapons as the Hadean demons Paula had fought in the past.

Like most of their preparations- her experimentation into Dust and Shaidar's purchases- those enchanted weapons would allow them to be ready for whatever they choose to do next. But in a way that would not waste time or resources, should they choose not to involve themselves. It gave them more options, more freedom and Shaidar always took the long view. Which wasn't to say she didn't- he was just a little better at it.

"So, what were you looking at?" she asked, changing the subject. Whatever it was must have been interesting to get the reaction she'd seen out of him.

A strange smile played about his lips. "Refresh my memory, how much do you remember about the early history of the White Fang?"

Paula was thrown a little by the question. Despite that, she noticed his voice carried a trace of the fatigue. The past few days had been busy ones for both of them. When they hadn't been out and about, they'd been researching various topics about Remnant.

It hadn't taken anywhere near that long for she and Shaidar to rule out the possibility of working with the White Fang, even if the two of them did choose to involve themselves into Remnant's affairs. Neither Shaidar or herself were idiotic enough to try joining up with an organization that would view them as inferior and would be sure to back-stab them once their usefulness was ended. Or one that was, in essence, looking like they just might be crazy enough to declare war on most of Remnant.

Which, despite what White Fang sympathizers would claim and the words of it's leader, Sienna Khan, __was __the path the organization was headed down. Otherwise, the White Fang would've reigned in or disavowed their more radical elements. Particularly those who seemed to be in their upper echelons, such as Adam Taurus. Not that Sienna Khan appeared much more restrained by comparison.

Whatsmore, from what Paula had seen, the Faunus had largely won their struggle for equality. The stumbling block now wasn't an oppressive and bloodthirsty system that enslaved the faunus, just the rich and the ignorant being petty, vindictive or fearful without the system to back them up.

That didn't change the fact that she and Shaidar were starting to belatedly suspect more and more that the White Fang were just a symptom of the larger problems Remnant would have to face. And in fact might just be a catalyst of what was to come. Meaning that getting involved became not a question of 'if' but 'when'. One which would have to be handled with care for not just their sakes, but those of Remnant in the longer term.

"Not a lot," She answered. "Just that they started out as a non-violent protest group, but turned into radicals in the face of apathy and occasional violence." Which Paula could find understandable. Sometimes peaceful means weren't enough to apply changes and at least the threat of worse was needed. "That was before they __really __jumped off the deep end and became a violent minority that's a cross between Al Quaeda and the Klan. In short, they're beyond the point of repair and bad news for everyone." She shrugged. "Most of what I found was about their recent history under Sienna Khan, so I focused on that. Why, do you think you've found a lead?"

They'd hoped to use the names of the White Fang Faunus Paula had learned with her telepathy from observing the fight at the dockyard three days ago to their advantage. To find them, watch them and use them to locate more people within the White Fang. But it had been a failure- the official police files had held little, even on those that were from Vale. It also didn't help that Paula didn't know most of their full names.

Any plans of using local information brokers instead had gone nowhere. There was no information in official files and they didn't yet know enough about Vale to even know where to start looking, or who to ask. Even if she was willing to do so, Paula could not go around looking into the mind of every Faunus or police officer in Vale she came across to find out what they knew.

"I believe I have, after a fashion." The Hand of the Shadows stated in a calm, almost meditative tone.

Around them, the dimness was lit by several softly glowing holographic images. Arranged in a loose crescent, they floated in midair at a little about eye level. There must have been about two dozen of the images, but they all had one thing in common. A young woman with black hair and amber eyes. Blake Belladonna.

From some of them, Paula guessed that Shaidar had managed to track down at least one social media account belonging to someone on Team RWBY.

However, three images in particular drew Paula's eyes. These looked as if they were stills from security cameras. All showed someone who was almost certainly Blake in White Fang gear and mask. In one of those images, she was accompanied by a horned, red-haired man that Paula recognized as Adam Taurus.

"I thought the name 'Belladonna' sounded familiar to me, as if I'd run across an offhand reference to it somewhere. So I started digging. Unfortunately, I didn't find out much about Ms. Belladonna, save that she was born outside the Kingdoms. At least, not at first." Shaidar continued in the same thoughtful tone, turning his head back to Paula from the images that now surrounded them.

Now that Shaidar mentioned it, Paula realized that the name Belladonna __did __seem familiar. Where had she heard it? Still, she couldn't help herself.

"Oh good, I'd hate to think that you were digging in a teenager's social media account for nothing," she teased, a mischievous grin on her face.

Shaidar raised a black eyebrow at that. "That's a bit rich coming from the woman who had me going through Ruby's school records." He said, dry amusement clear in his voice.

"Fair enough." Paula conceded, chuckling.

"Anyway, it seems Ms. Belladonna has a deeper connection to the White Fang than we thought." Shaidar said evenly, levity having now faded from his voice.

Around them more images flared into being. These were of a tall, powerfully built man with distinctly amber eyes. As well as a thick, close cropped black beard that seemed to grow longer with age.

The largest of the holograms, placed almost directly to her and Shaidar's front, showed the dark-haired man standing within a group of exuberant Faunus, holding the old blue and white flag of the White Fang. The other images were smaller and most looked like they'd been cropped from group photos. One showed sharp, black talons protruding from the man's finger tips.

Retractable claws, based upon their absence in other photos, Paula guessed.

Shaidar stood, making a gesture with one hand to the new images. His voice was filled with calm satisfaction. "Allow me to introduce Ghira Belladonna, Chieftain of Menagerie, Former High Leader of the White Fang, a veteran of the Faunus War and probable father of Ms. Belladonna. It seems he disagreed with the direction the White Fang were heading and stepped down five years ago, making way for Sienna Khan. The rest, as they say, is history."

"I think I saw something about that in an article I read now that you mention it," Paula commented, her brow furrowed in thought as she rose to her feet. "Still, are you sure about this? Belladonna might just be a common Faunus name."

Even as she said this however, Paula noticed more and more of the similarities between the two cat Faunus. Ones that went beyond them just both being the same type of Faunus.

"Between their mutual connection to the White Fang, the fact that they share the same last name as well as both being feline-based Faunus? And share a certain family resemblance? I'm as reasonably sure as I can be about anything. It's too much of a coincidence for me to trust." Shaidar admitted to her.

"You're probably right." Paula admitted, "So why'd she still stick around after her father left?"

Shaidar smiled grimly. "Why indeed. I have my own suspicions, but I'd like to hear your interpretation first." He invited.

Paula let her gaze drift from one hovering image to another, her eyes focusing on them without any real interest.

She thought of how, throughout Faunus history, violence could be seen as a choice that consistently worked for them. Menagerie and the post-war promises of equality had been given in exchange for their military services during the Great War. When those had been withdrawn and the Faunus were apparently threatened with mass deportation, they'd fought back to regain their rights and avoid that fate. How, at least according to the histories she'd read, the Faunus were well on their way towards gaining equality before they'd started committing acts of 'unnecessary violence'. And the sort of illusion the timing of that, when combined with everything which had come before could create.

It didn't take long for the whole thing to click together in Paula's mind.

"I can think of only one," she theorized. "When Ghira couldn't seem to make peaceful protests work, he fell back on quietly supporting violence. After all, it's worked well for the Faunus in the past. But as a head of state, he couldn't risk bringing down the Kingdoms on Menagerie. So, he publicly broke with the White Fang. But sent his daughter, a skilled Aura user and fighter, as a private gesture of support."

"And to act as his eyes and ears in the White Fang," Shaidar said. "Hence why Ms. Belladonna hasn't tried contacting him or the authorities. She betrayed her father-and going to the police would risk exposing too much of his continuing role with the White Fang."

Paula nodded. "That'd also explain why someone like Ghira would stop leading the White Fang. If he really didn't like what they were turning into, he would have stuck around and tried to fight it out."

"Which would be another difference between him and his daughter." Shaidar Gorthule pointed out. "From what you told me after the dockyard about her telepathic aura, I'd say Ms. Belladonna started losing her taste for violence. But the White Fang couldn't just let her go. No, she was too much of a source of legitimacy within the ranks because of her connection to her father, I'd think. That and she's a capable fighter, not the sort of person anyone would throw away."

Shaidar had asked her about the telepathic auras she'd sensed from the various combatants at the docks as they'd left it. Paula knew he'd undoubtably taken notes down what she'd said. She also knew that he'd done it for the same reason she would have. To get a feel for what kind of people they were to cover their bases, should they unexpectedly run into each other again. That and given how much they'd seen at the docks getting that sort of information down quickly was important. Before the details started slipping from their minds.

"I'd reckon that they started isolating her from the worst of it and keeping her out of the loop. And anytime they did need her in the field or she caught wind of something, I'll bet they had any number of excuses for it." Paula threw in.

"Very likely." Shaidar agreed, and the holograms surrounding them faded away.

As far as theories drawn from connecting the dots went, Paula had to admit that this one was seeming pretty solid. Still, she couldn't shake the sudden idea that it was wrong.

Paula frowned, thinking back and trying to figure out where that feeling had come from.

"Is something wrong?" Shaidar asked, his quiet voice cutting through Paula's thoughts.

"I'm not sure." Paula confessed. "Something about this just doesn't feel right. I can't explain why though."

One black eyebrow went up, just slightly. "Interesting. Could it be something you picked up on telepathically from Blake?"

"No, at least I don't think so."

"Hmm," he murmured softly. "Well, we shall have to keep our eyes open regarding Ms. Belladonna's past going forward. Although, assuming that we do decide to get involved- which is looking more and more likely- getting her to trust us could prove difficult."

"Bringing up that we know of her connection to the White Fang would just put her on her guard and raise questions," Paula agreed. "Almost as much as having a pair of strangers come up and make an offer totally out of the blue. Anyway, I'd say the White Fang is too personal for Blake and she's too passionate to just sit on the sidelines. She'll be going after them again."

As with Blake's teammates, neither she or Shaidar had put much thought towards a course of action up until now. That is, outside of a vague notion of keeping an eye out for them, just so they and the four Student-Huntresses didn't blunder into each other. Mostly because main fouc for the two of them had been trying to figure out the situation. As well as the bigger question of if they'd be involving themselves.

On the subject of Blake herself, before now they'd both assumed that she was on the lower ranks of the White Fang based both on what they'd seen three days ago at the dockyards and her young age. Which was why they hadn't done much then mark her down as a possible, if tenuous, lead to follow up on. This was the first time either one of them had put any serious thought into the idea of approaching her.

After all, there was a world of difference between what a low ranking faunus of the White Fang would know and someone like Blake. Even if she didn't know what the White Fang's current scheme was from being left out of the loop, more information about the inner workings of the White Fang would be quite useful.

"Just so. Which is why I'd argue against approaching her until she takes action again. We'll have more time to maneuver and Blake doesn't feel any sort of pressure from us that might lead to resentment later on. And it'll give us the opportunity to approach her as more of an equal partner. Which will neatly lay the groundwork for solving that particular balancing act."

Paula understood what Shaidar was getting at in an instant, having been on her own adventures as a teenager. "She hasn't seen or done the sort of things we have. She's still a normal teenager at heart. But we can't afford to coddle her either."

She saw Shaidar smile then."Which also applies to the rest of Team RWBY. Because where Ms. Belladonna goes, Team RWBY is sure to follow. And then we'll have them all."

****-RWBY-****

__With unease in her heart, Blake Belladonna rounded the last bend in the winding path created by the comings and goings of her brothers and sisters of the White Fang.__

__The sight in front of her was a familiar one. Not even a stone's throw in front of her, a sea of canvas tents filled most of the large forest clearing. Thanks to its position high on the side of a hill, Blake could see for miles. To the south and east, the rolling hills gave way to a row of mountains that rose like a curved wall, shielding the surrounding countryside and, further to the west of the encampment, the city of Vale from the greater wilderness. Protecting them from some of the worst Grimm Remnant had to offer.__

__Blake almost didn't notice the view. As she made her way into the camp, the last of the lingering light of day vanished. With the moon still behind the mountains, most humans would have found it difficult to see. But for a Faunus like Blake, the faint yellow light of small campfires and the occasional old-fashioned Dust lamps was more than enough.__

__All around her, people continued to go about their business. Doing every-day camp chores, cooking, talking to friends and comrades in arms. Almost all had their faces concealed behind masks. Quite a few of them- returning from guarding the perimeter of the camp and surrounding area- carried weapons.__

__It made Blake all the more aware of slight weight from the protective bracers around her forearms and the reinforced armor sections at her knees. Like many of her more capable brethren in the White Fang, she'd modified and added her own touches to her uniform. Save for a small white jacket with the sleeves cut off at the elbow, everything she wore was a dark gray, almost black. Perfect for sneaking around in the shadows.__

__Around her, a gentle wind whispered through the forest making the treetops and leaves rustle. The weather had been unseasonably hot and dry for the past few days. So, despite everything, Blake took a moment to enjoy the cool and clean air brushing past her, touching her long black hair and her exposed face. As she'd left her customized mask in her tent- she'd been finding the idea of wearing it more uncomfortable in recent days. Not that she'd ever been in the habit of wearing it when not on a mission.__

__Then the breeze was gone, taking what small feeling of relief it'd brought with it. All that remained was handfuls of the falling red leaves that gave the Forest of Forever Fall its name. One leaf, light as a feather, brushed past one of Blake's black feline ears as it traveled down. Her ear flicked involuntarily at the delicate touch. Here outside the Kingdoms, Blake didn't hide who she was beneath a black bow.__

__All this brought her thoughts back to her mission tomorrow to raid one of the SDC trains that transferred workers and Dust from the mines at the foot of the mountains to the city of Vale. With it came a resurgence of the unease and doubts she'd tried to shake off. She'd hoped that a walk away from the camp would help.__

__Of course, it wasn't safe to be outside of the camp. The Grimm were still a problem west of the mountains. So the White Fang had set up a ring of guards- a picket line- that extended almost a mile around their camp. It's purpose was to fend off and warn of any approaching Grimm that couldn't be driven away. Not to mention dealing with any possible human interlopers. Anyone this far out from the city wouldn't be out here by accident.__

__Even as a skilled fighter, Blake had remained within the comparative safety of the picket line. She could even let her guard down a little and clear her mind- at least, that's what she'd thought. The several hours she'd spent wrestling with her thoughts hadn't helped- the solitude only brought out those doubts more. A feeling that somewhere, everything had gone wrong.__

__Letting her mind wander, Blake didn't notice where her feet were taking her. Until the sound of a familiar voice and snatches of a conversation snapped her back. "What you need... is to leave. You're asking my men… not an idea I am willing to entertain."__

__There were several dozen tents scattered around a nearby campfire. But Adam's tent was unlike all the others- it was more of a pavilion.__

__Approaching from the back, Blake almost didn't hear another voice, belonging to a woman, answer him.__

__"Very well," the voice's owner said, her displeasure clear.__

__When she finally made her way around the side of the tent, Blake caught sight of a trio of people walking away from the camp. A man in a rumpled gray jacket with messy hair of the same color and a pair of women. One was dark-haired and wore a red mini dress. Her weapons rested at the small of her back- a pair of curved swords. The other had pale green hair, light brown skin and was armed with a pair of revolvers. Like the dark-haired woman, she carried her weapons holstered at the small of her back.__

__That glimpse was all Blake got before they were swallowed up by the undergrowth and shadows and vanished into the forest.__

__Adam Taurus half-turned his head at the sound of her voice. A pair of short curved horns, like those of a bull, peeked above his windswept red and brown hair. His face was concealed behind a mask that covered his eyes and nose. Blake couldn't shake the feeling that the mask, white with red decorations shaped like horns on its front, was becoming more familiar to her than his actual face was.__

__When he spoke, Adam's tone was one of cool finality. "Nothing. We need to finish preparing. The train will be here at dawn."__

Blake shook herself out of her memories as she left Beacon Academy's courtyard and stepped inside the dormitory that housed Team RWBY and JNPR's rooms.

Which was probably for the best, she reflected. The once sunny sky had become grey and overcast. With the afternoon sun only managing to break through in a few places.

She'd gone out because she'd felt cooped up. Some had come from her feelings of guilt. The rest had come from the news. Blake hadn't been able to keep from keeping an eye on it for the last few days and it had only heightened her feelings of frustration.

Outside of blaming the White Fang for the explosion in the Forest of Forever Fall and hushing up what'd happened at the dockyard, authorities of Vale didn't seem to be doing anything towards stopping them. Just the same vague assurances that she'd heard before from various Kingdoms when she was within the White Fang. They'd had little success then, so what chance did they have of catching the White Fang this time, much less Torchwick?

Just thinking about the flamboyant human thief made Blake scowl. Try as she might, Blake couldn't manage to wholly push him or what she'd seen at the docks from her mind for the past few days. Although she'd almost managed to do so during her delightful tour around Beacon with Sun.

How had the White Fang come to this? Blake fumed as she started climbing the steps. They'd gone from demonstrating for civil rights, to an army of revolution, to...what? Cheap muscle for some second-rate crook?

Blake was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice a fellow student, who'd been coming from the opposite direction, take note of her thunderous expression. Only to step aside slightly to put a little more distance between them as they passed each other.

She couldn't help but feel guilty. Just a few short months ago, she would've been doing the robbing and stealing. Which just made her hate Torchwick that much more.

What made it all worse was that it meant that everything she'd done during her time with the White Fang had not just been for nothing, as she'd believed when she'd abandoned them months ago. Now it looked like it had been for worse than nothing.

Which meant that she'd run away from home, called her parents cowards and treated them like trash and worse than nothing. And that realization had hurt more then any of the others had. She felt suffocated by the weight of her past mistakes and all the harm she'd caused.

As she stopped outside the door to Team RWBY's room, Blake took a moment to compose herself and clear her mind. As she did however, she could hear the voices of her teammates, although slightly muffled by the door.

"Aww come on Weiss, do we really have to start studying?" Ruby almost whined.

"We've only got a few days before classes start up again." Weiss pointed out. "We need to start getting ready."

Blake could easily imagine Weiss seated in a chair, her ice-blue eyes looking up from a textbook cradled in her lap.

With the sound of Weiss's voice and that mental image, Blake felt a stab of guilt. She still couldn't quite look Weiss in the eyes- even if Weiss knew Blake had been part of the White Fang, she didn't know the full truth. Not to mention that Blake was part of the reason why Weiss would probably never fully trust a Faunus. Every time a Schnee or company member died, the White Fang celebrated and Blake had been one of them.

"Come on Weiss, it's only been two weeks. Seriously, we haven't forgotten that much." Yang spoke up.

"Yeah. Let's enjoy what free time we've still got before classes start. There's so many cool things we could be doing we won't have time for after!" Ruby added in.

"You and I might not have as much to worry about," Weiss admitted, "but your sister does. Or have you forgotten that she skipped forward two years getting into Beacon?"

Blake's ears caught some indistinct muttering through the wooden door. She guessed it was probably from Ruby, who couldn't exactly disagree with Weiss on this. Plus, Blake knew that it was probably one of the worst kept-secrets at Beacon that about a third of the time Ruby and Jaune were 'studying' together that it actually meant they were playing video games.

"Weiss, if we should be worried about anything, it should be the White Fang and Torchwick. Not school work! Don't you remember the explosion in Forever Fall? You saw what happened at the docks. They're up to something big, something bad! And if someone doesn't stop them, a lot of people could get hurt."

"Ruby, I'm quite aware of how much trouble the White Fang can be." Weiss calmly stated.

To which Ruby stammered a sheepish apology. "I'm sorry, Weiss I wasn't trying to...that is, I didn't mean to..."

"Weiss, I'm sure Ruby didn't intend to-" Yang started to say at that same moment.

"I know you didn't Ruby." Weiss gently said, verbally waving the apologies off. "And you're not the only one who wants to go after the White Fang. But as much as I'd like to, we're students. We're not ready to handle that sort of situation."

"I think Weiss is right here sis. Besides, Ozpin told us not to worry." Yang spoke up, hesitated, then continued. "...Between the police and the Huntsmen, I'm sure they can handle it."

"Well maybe, but-"

Weiss interrupted. "Ruby. __We're not ready. __Just look at how badly the docks went for us!"

"Pfft. Yeah, we kicked the White Fang's butt so hard they ran away." The younger teenager's voice was dismissive.

"They 'ran away' after getting what they wanted. Which probably wasn't helped by you charging in alone instead of all of us running in together."

"I was trying to get there before Blake got hurt," Ruby's voice was subdued and Blake could imagine her looking at the ground and starting to fidget with her fingers, "but yeah I guess that was a bit reckless..."

"Hey, you did your best! That's what matters," Yang consoled Ruby.

Blake found her interest in the rest of the conversation fading as her attention turned inwards to her own thoughts. In the main, Blake found herself coming back to an idea she'd considered more and more over the past few days. That instead of running away or waiting around, she should be taking action against the White Fang instead.

She knew the White Fang better than the police or Huntsmen or Huntress in Vale. Although Blake had to admit to even herself that she wasn't so sure she'd be able to find out more. The dockyards had been down to a lot of luck and the rumor Sun had heard. Likewise, she could be certain that the White Fang and Roman hadn't already left the city of Vale.

What Blake was certain of was that she'd be doing it alone.

Her team still didn't know exactly how long she'd been a part of the White Fang or when she'd left yet. Which were lies of omission that she'd rather not see get brought up. But those paled compared to the memory of how her friends had been injured at the docks. But the price they'd paid three days ago was not what made Blake's stomach tie itself a knot.

No, what made her stomach twist painfully was the thought of just how much worse those injuries could have been. Blake didn't think she'd be able to live with herself if anything happened to her friends. Especially in Ruby's case.

She'd had little difficulty accepting Ruby as team leader and as a prodigy from the start. But at times like these, the fact that Ruby was nearly three years younger then herself or the rest of the team weighed heavily on her mind. Because whatever her flaws, Ruby was a good person.

No, this was supposed to be Blake's fight, not theirs.

Blake was so deep in thought that her mind didn't register the sounds coming from the other side of the door.

Which was why Blake jerked back, startled when the door swung open. Her thoughts fled from her mind and she found herself meeting the purple eyes of her partner.

"Oh hey Blake." Yang said, stepping out into the hall and closing the door behind her. "I was just going to grab some snacks, do you want anything?"

"No, I'm fine Yang. Thanks." She said, her words halting.

Yang's brow furrowed, her eyes searching Blake's face. "Are you alright Blake? You look kind of pale."

"It's nothing, just having some trouble sleeping, that's all." She did her best to look and sound slightly embarrassed. That it was true helped somewhat. Plus she'd been too wound up to sleep in the nights that had followed her flight from Beacon.

"Oh, I see." Yang said, "well, I hope you sleep better. Those snacks aren't going to get themselves!"

"Yeah." Blake forced a smile and stepped past Yang as the other started to walk away. Her attention focused on preparing herself to face Weiss and Ruby.

Which was why Blake missed Yang shooting a concerned look in her direction as she stepped through the door.

****-RWBY-****

On the holographic television screen, the intrepid hero had managed to track down his nemesis to a crumbling manor house located in the middle of the wilderness. An oddly-well illuminated manor house, considering that it was supposed to be a moonless night.

In the half-light of the apartment, Shaidar Gorthule saw Paula reach up to brush aside some of her red-gold hair. As she shifted, snuggled up against his right arm and shoulder at the same time. That same arm enfolded her gently, as it had for a while now.

The world outside was obscured by a blur of thick raindrops, the noise of the storm muffled by the apartment's thick walls.

The pair of them had spent the rest of the afternoon trying to get themselves made into Private Investigators. Even with some subtle applications of their individual abilities, it had meant trying to hack their way through a jungle of red tape. In the end, they had succeeded. But it had left them both feeling drained and more than a little cross.

Thankfully, Paula had managed to teleport them back to the apartment, so they'd avoided being trapped in the rain. Still, they'd both decided that they were long overdue some relaxation.

Shaidar drew himself back to the present. The little comedy of a B-movie was moving along.

The blond-haired hero had managed to locate a secret door, which swung open at the pull of a book and a trite quip, mostly for the audience's benefit. Revealing a spotlessly clean Evil Laboratory. Which was so cheesy and stereotypical that Shaidar thought it __deserved __capital letters.

"Oooh, fell for one of the classical blunders!" Paula joked, as the hero stumbled into a laser tripwire in the middle of the tangled nest of bubbling bunsen burners and Dust crystals moments later.

Shaidar, for his part, rolled his eyes as secret hatches swung open, revealing twisted hybrids of Grimm and animals. Which, naturally, instantly attacked the sword-and-pistol wielding hero.

Thankfully, the movie had the sense to try and hide the poor CGI by having the lighting of the laboratory damaged shortly into the fight. Although the fuse boxes in Remnant were apparently made of aluminum foil and C4, given how easily and spectacularly the one damaged by a tossed aside Grimm-hybrid blew up.

Slight battered by the battle with the twisted experiments, the hero continued further into the depth of the mad scientist's lair. He'd barely managed to exit a spiral staircase into a darkened room when a metal door slammed shut behind him, prompting a dead-eyed expression of surprise in the hero's blue eyes.

An evil laugh echoed around the room, the camera panning upwards as the hero turned to face-

"Oh no. Here comes __the monologue.__" Shaidar said, with a deliberate deadpan. Paula laughed.

"__Ahaha! You've fallen into my trap, mmm-yes!"__Crowed the portly, black haired evil scientist in the darkness of the overhead walkway. "__You maybe have destroyed my prototypes-"__

"Come on, __get him!__" half-groaned Paula as the Evil Scientist continued speechifying to the motionless hero.

"__-but your foolish meddling ends __**_**here**_**__, mmm-yes! Vengeance will be mine! Behold, my greatest experiment!"__

A metal hatch in the back of the room swung open. Cold mist flowed out. For a moment, the form within was shrouded by mist and darkness. Before the humanoid shape strode upwards, the camera moving upwards around the figure for the Dramatic Reveal.

Or, what would have been a dramatic reveal if the film hadn't bludgeoned the viewer over the head that the hero's stunning and beautiful partner had survived the prologue when she'd been trapped in the Mad Scientist's self-destructing base.

If it wasn't for the dead-white skin, black veins, completely blood red eyes and the black spikes that protruded from her white hair, the former heroine could have almost passed as a human. Though she'd probably have still gotten odd looks from the amount of silver eyeliner she wore. A far cry from the twisted monsters seen throughout the rest of the film.

Paula snickered."Who knew being turned into a monster gave you a makeover?"

"And caused one to jump up a cup-size too." Shaidar dryly commented on the amount of pale cleavage being displayed by the former heroine's tasteless leather outfit.

As the two former allies began their final-and poorly choreographed to his eyes- battle, Shaidar found his attentioned wandering.

It was not from boredom. He'd found plenty of enjoyment poking fun at the film with Paula and the final act looked like it would continue that entertainment. Nor was it out of any concern about a lack of knowledge of Remnant. Or the growing list of troubling concerns he and Paula had for it's society.

No, this was from an idea that had started rolling around in his brain two days ago. One that had been prompted by Paula's report on Roman Torchwick. More to the point, about how it had been Ruby Rose of all people that had just so happened to be there at the time.

He'd wondered at that odd coincidence, wondered and started to suspect. That suspicion had only further solidified with the search into Blake's background and the more he looked onto events surrounding the four teenagers of team RWBY.

It was all, if Shaidar allowed himself to be metaphorical, starting to paint a picture for him. One he wasn't so sure he liked the look of.

Still, he was far from sure at this point and could just be the result of coincidences. Which was why he had yet to tell Paula about it. And even if he was correct, it was a problem that had more than one solution. Solutions that could be turned to not just his and Paula's advantage, but to the good of all of Remnant.

However, there was still time to think, time to breathe, and he was a patient man. There was a time and place for decisive action. Experience had taught him that these things take their own time. Besides, plans were fragile things, and life often dashed expectations to the ground.

"Hey. You okay?" Paula asked, "You haven't said anything for a good five minutes."

Shaidar blinked, realizing that the film had ended and that the credits had started to role. "Sorry, I was-"

Paula's golden eyes narrowed, "Off plotting something?"

"Of a sort. Old habits die hard." Shaidar shrugged.

Paula leaned into him, her gloved arms encircling his shoulder to draw herself closer to him. Shaidar felt her ample breasts press against his own chest, it was the playful look in her golden eyes that really drew him in though.

"Well," she said, her voice suddenly more sultry. "I think I've got a way to take his mind off that."

Shaidar's expression shifted, lips forming a playful grin. A racing heartbeat later her soft lips pressed into his in a kiss and his plans, much less the movie, were momentarily forgotten.

* * *

**Chapter ****Notes:**

Thanks to all who have posted. I really appreciate the feedback and comments as it lets me know that my work is being read and, I hope, enjoyed. Your interest is what motivates me to continue posting and keeping this journey on track.

Regarding Blake's somewhat personalized White Fang outfit, I think her having one when she was a part of the White Fang isn't out of the question. Plus, it neatly explains away the issue of why Blake never showed concern about being identified as ex-White Fang in canon as a result of wearing the same outfit both before and after she left the White Fang. Be it by one of the various humans she'd run into or by pictures thanks to security recordings.

My take for why we never see Blake wear a White Fang outfit in the show is that Roosterteeth didn't want to spoil the surprise of Blake being a Faunus in the Black trailer. And their limited budget/time didn't allow them to make alternate one time use models.

* * *

**FireIce90:  
**You're welcome!

**Alucard45:  
**I hope this chapter came out fast enough to meet your expectations? :P I would have gotten it out sooner, but writer's block struck.

**Lord Jaric:  
**The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote. Exciting, isn't it?

As for the Interloper's views on Remnant, well, let's just say that a healthy dose of paranoia comes with their job descriptions and their current situation. That said, there is a certain level of truth to their observations about Remnant. Which we'll be seeing more of. As for how _much_ truth, well, I'm leaving a fair sized chunk of that up to the readers to decide. I hope to cause a few discussions. Maybe even a bar fight or two.

All of this is part of Shaidar and Paula's fatal flaw- _pride_. Which I'm trying to write with a degree of subtlety and nuance, instead of the more stereotypical vainglory. Of course, that doesn't mean it won't bite them is the ass from time to time...

I'd say more, but I don't want to spoil too much.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

* * *

Thin fingers of sunlight shone through and around a thick layer of fluffy white clouds as Blake Belladonna made her way down Beacon Academy's wide main avenue.

She'd planned to leave much earlier in the afternoon then this. But to Blake's quite frustration, she'd been unable to think up a good way to slip away from the rest of her team.

Likewise, she hadn't been able to come up with a reason for leaving Beacon that wouldn't have risked at least some of her Team wanting to tag along. Which would have made investigating into the White Fang difficult.

Investigations that hadn't turned up a whole lot in the two days that had passed since Blake had overheard the argument between Ruby, Weiss and Yang. Although Blake had faked being a new recruit and managed to learn that the Vale branch of the White Fang still intended to hold one of their regular meetings in the near future.

Having been to other such meetings in the past, Blake knew that it was probably her best bet to learn about what the White Fang were planning. Be it by the White Fang handing out orders or by poking around.

And maybe, if she could just stop whatever the White Fang were planning on Vale, she could have a clean conscious again. Because then she'd be one step closer to repairing the damage she'd done to human and Faunus relations. And maybe, she could face her parents again.

The only good other good news at the moment was that, like much of Beacon's vast courtyard, the main avenue that led to the airship docks were empty for the most part.

Blake had just thought this when there was a loud rustling of leaves from off to the side. She turned and saw Sun Wukong jogging out from underneath a tree towards her, a grin on his face and a stray leaf stuck in his messy blond hair.

"Hey Blake, how's it going?"

"I'm fine, Sun." Blake forced herself to remain polite. She might have not have time for this, but that didn't mean she should take her frustrations on on Sun.

"Cool, cool. So you want to hang out some?"

"Sorry, Sun." Blake said. "I have plans tonight. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get going."

"Blake wait." Sun hurried around to get in front of her. The easy-going smile on his face was gone. "I want to help."

Blake swore her heart skipped a beat. "I don't know what you're talking about." She said, forcing aside a rising panic with some difficulty. Still, she felt her throat tightening in spite of herself.

"I know you've been," and here his voice grew quieter, "looking into the White Fang again."

"Sun, you can't. Not this time."

"Why not?" Sun's face was a study in genuine puzzlement.

"Because-" Blake started, then she hesitated. "Because I don't want you to get hurt. And because this is my battle and my fault."

Seeing Sun's confused expression, Blake continued. "When the old leader stepped down, things started to change. Back then, I tried convincing myself that just one more riot wouldn't really hurt anyone, that it would be a quicker way of getting our message across. And because of that I did nothing to stop it."

Blake didn't, couldn't tell him the rest. She hadn't been open with her friends on her past and status as a Faunus for very long. So opening up about her past still didn't come naturally to her to begin with. It didn't help that most of the other reasons were too painful or too personal.

How she'd ran away from home after a spiteful and heated argument. How Adam has mastered the art of hiding or excusing the worst of what the White Fang was becoming from her. Putting her at easy with honeyed words.

Sun was quiet for a moment, stunned. Blake was about to walk away, but then he started to speak. While his voice remained low, it was more serious then she'd ever heard it before. "Blake, I don't know how things were in the White Fang, but you can't blame everything that happened on yourself."

"Besides Blake, we're your friends." Said a second, very familiar voice.

Blake jumped and whirled around to face her partner, who'd come up behind her. Her words coming out as a startled squeak. "_Yang?!_ When did-? How did-?"

Yang grinned, but there was little humor in it or her purple eyes. "Sun-chucks wasn't the only one who realized you've been acting odd these past few days. And with your reaction outside our room a few days back, it was obvious why you started spending so much time in Vale."

Blake shook her head, feeling her heart still racing from the surprise she'd just gotten. "I just don't want any of you getting mixed up in this. This is dangerous, Yang. I don't-"

"If we get hurt," Yang said, crossing her arms, "it will be because we decided that we wanted to help. It's our choice."

"Yeah," Sun commented. "Besides, we signed up for this when we chose to become Huntsmen and Huntresses. To protect people, even if it means putting our own lives at risk."

She was about to argue back when Yang cut her off. "And anyway, the three of us will be able to get more done than any one of us could."

Blake wasn't sure if it was their words or their determined expressions that won her over. Or if it was the knowledge that they were both too stubborn to give up and would probably follow her around regardless of if she wanted it or not. She sighed, tension coming out of her in a rush. "Fine, come on then. Before we miss the airship to Vale."

"Yes!" Sun and Yang exclaimed, fist bumping each other. Blake couldn't help but smile and feel relieved.

"I knew you'd come around!" Sun grinned at her as the trio started towards the airship docks.

"Yeah, the White Fang aren't going to know what hit them!" Yang added.

"So, did you have anything in particular in mind for tonight?" asked Sun.

Blake's mind flashed back to the night at the docks. "Torchwick. We need to find out more about what he's been up to."

"Well," said Yang, and Blake could hear the grin in her voice, "I might have an idea where we can start looking."

**-RWBY-**

_The Bear Necessities_ looked every bit the part of a bustling nightclub, Paula Ravenwood thought as she took a long sip from her glass. Her lips glistening with the alcohol, she surveyed the growing organized chaos around her as the club started filling up more. Still, Paula bet that the club would get even busier later on and would have been busier now, if it hadn't been a weekday.

Even with her mental shields up, Paula could feel swirling drunkenness, avarice, secret sorrows and public appetites. Unsurprisingly given the location, people were just buckets of emotions, splashing all over the place.

Besides her at the bar, Shaidar Gorthule sat with a similar half-empty drink held in the metal fingers of his Dust-Gauntlet.

The pair of them had elected to dress up a little. Mostly to help them blend into the crowd of club goers. With Paula wearing a dark red and gold low-cut jacket that was more of a vest. As well as a pair of tight fitting black pants and, of course, her elbow-length opera gloves.

Around them, _The Bear Necessities _was filled with color, sound and motion. Up-tempo house music blared from speakers, while flashing lights flickered in time to the rhythm and onto the dance floor. Which, with its glowing lines and contrasting black, Paula couldn't help but think it looked like something out of the movie TRON.

All and all the club looked didn't at all look like it had been wrecked several months ago, according to what she'd heard.

Turning back around, Paula noticed a tall, dark haired and bearded man emerging from a door behind the bar.

A tall man by either Terran or Remnant's standards, Hei 'Junior' Xiong was the owner of _The Bear Necessities _nightclub. He was also what Shaidar had called a 'fixer', when he'd learned of Junior. That is, somebody one went to when they needed something; be it a bodyguard, forged identity papers, information or whatever else.

The fact that Junior was a fixer had to be one of the worst best kept secrets in Vale, which was how Paula had managed to find out about him and the nightclub while she'd been poking around. She hadn't even needed to use her telepathy to find out about him.

With all that said, none of Junior's activities could be proven. From what Paula knew, he was very thorough at covering his tracks. That and she suspected that he was bribing the Vale police department. Paula also would not be surprised if the VPD didn't go after him because they preferred the trouble they knew to the trouble they would have to track down. As someone would come around and replace Junior within five minutes if anything happened to him. Killing him wouldn't get rid of the demand for the sort of services he supplied. She'd seen similar arrangements and occurrences before.

"Mr. Blackwater, Ms. Jade." Junior said by way of greeting.

Shaidar looked up at the sound of Junior's voice and the cover names they'd given him. "Mr. Xiong," he replied in turn.

Paula, for her part, echoed him and joked, "We were starting to wonder if we should send in a rescue team."

Junior cracked a grin and replied, "Hey, inquiries like yours take time, especially about such exotic brands on such short notice."

Around them, the constant low-level chatter of the bar continued. That might have set some people on edge, but Paula took comfort from it. It meant that the patrons were immersed in their own activity and not concerned with hers or Shaidar's.

Still, she didn't doubt that Junior had chosen his words carefully, just in case anyone was eavesdropping. Besides, it would have been the height of stupidity to admit that they were here to buy information on the White Fang.

"Anyway, here's the merchandise," Junior said, pulling out a neatly folded piece of paper from his black vest, which was of a surprisingly Terran cut. Upon seeing the expectant look on the fixer's face, Shaidar smiled and pulled out a stack of Lien.

"And here's your well-earned compensation," Shaidar said as he slid the money across the counter.

Paula's eyes tracked the gesture. Her gaze though was focused on what appeared to a particle atop the stack. Most would assume to be a grain of sand or a flea. It was something intended to serve as both safeguards against Junior selling them out and a...cost-saving measure of sorts.

A microprobe that jumped and attached itself to Xiong, it, as well the one the techno-mage left on the counter would let them eavesdrop on the fixer's conversations. Far more efficient than repeatedly paying for his services as far as she and Shaidar were a neat way to ensure that he didn't betray them, on the off-chance he chose to do so. Most fixers and information brokers wouldn't betray their customers without _very_ good reason, but one could never tell.

She couldn't help but note it was only sheer dumb luck that there'd been a handful of probes in Shaidar's pocket when they'd arrived on Remnant.

As she thought this, Paula saw Shaidar open that neatly folded slip of paper. Before passing it to Paula, who scanned the contents. There had to be over two dozen names and addresses of members of the White Fang in Vale on it. Some of which caught her eye. Harold Bress, Samantha Quinn, Perry Cerule, Earl Cole and someone who was just noted as 'Tuckson'.

It'd only been a short while since she and Shaidar had finally come to the decision to join in against the White Fang. By then it'd become obvious beyond doubt that the White Fang were just the symptom of the larger problems the Kingdoms were facing. Problems that would only grow as stressors in and outside of the Kingdoms ramped up.

It was true that they didn't think they had the full picture yet. But between the various fault-lines in Remnant's society they had noticed and the White Fang, she and Shaidar had enough to know that what was to come would affect Remnant on a grand scale. Trying to stay out of the coming conflict would be like burying their heads in the sand. And while they could not, would not fight Remnant's battles for it, the best way to predict the future was to create it.

Slipping the paper into a coat pocket, Paula noticed that Junior had gone over to speak with one of his black-suited henchmen. It had not escaped either Shaidar's or her notice that Junior's men matched the reports in the police files of Roman Torchick's failed robbery on the dust shop several months prior.

However, they'd decided not to ask Junior about that incident. There wouldn't be much point to it; given Roman was working with the White Fang now, they didn't think he was connected to Junior anymore. Plus, there was no need to risk needlessly antagonizing Junior by poking into his personal doings.

Paula took a moment to take another long slip of her drink.

That, and they wanted to play a little dumb. Which was why they hadn't bothered with any real disguises or illusions to change their appearance. Should they attract any unwanted attention, anyone who tried to spy on them would become another lead for her and Shaidar to follow. It was a bit risky, but potential rewards could easily be worth it.

"Not to count our chickens before they've hatched, but it's looking like you did an excellent job finding out about this place." Shaidar commented from besides her.

Paula was about to answer, when, over the swirling background emotions of the club came an acrid stab of fear.

Sensing it was coming from behind her, Paula turned smoothly, her hand going to the butt of the energy pistol at her side. Besides her, she sensed more than saw Shaidar take notice and do the same.

Across the dance floor and up the flight of glowing white steps that led to _The Bear Necessities'_ massive metal doors a trio of Junior's men were hurrying inside. It was they who were the source of what she'd sensed. Over the pulsing beat of house music Paula could hear one of the black-suited men cry out to his companions, "Hurry, close the door- _she's coming!_"

Fear was now radiating off them in waves. Around her, other people were taking notice of the commotion. Concern, confusion and fear were starting to spread in ripples. More and more people began to stop what they were doing as the buzz of voices rose.

"Back door?" she asked, as the trio of men began shoving the main ones shut. An unpleasant sensation had started to crawl along her spine. If this was the start to some sort of mob hit they needed to get out of the club. As any criminal willing to hit a public spot like a club tended not to care about who got caught in the crossfire.

"Too far and too crowded. We'd never make it." Shaidar answered. He was already darting forward and to the left, weaving his way through the thickening crowd. By now, people were starting to make their way towards the bar or those of Junior's men that were scattered around the club. From what she could pick out telepathically, many of the black suited men seemed just as confused by these events as everyone else.

Paula found herself following his example before she was aware of it. Now taking her first willing steps forward, she noted peripherally that Shaidar was making sure to keep his right arm, the one with the Dust Gauntlet, remaining free. Allowing it to come up in an instant and preserving the illusion that he was using Dust in the fight that was sure to come.

"_What are you three idiots doing?!"_ Junior demanded from behind her at his men. Paula didn't bother glancing back, but she guessed he was trying to make his way free from the gathering crowd.

Among the babble of replies and glimpses of frantic gestures from the men holding the door shut with their bodies, Paula thought she caught the words _'the golden demon bitch is here again!'. _

She didn't have time to wonder at that as she slipped through the crowd to join Shaidar Gorthule. He'd positioned himself at the bottom of a flight of stairs. It was one of a pair located on opposite sides of the dance floor which led up to _The Bear Necessities' _second and third levels.

Moving alongside him, Paula felt a slight tingling sensation dance across her skin. Recognized that Shaidar had created an energy shield and extended it to cover her as well.

Now sheltered behind the solid slab of polished black stone which served as a handrail, Paula slid her pistol from it's holster and reached out with her mind. If this was some sort of mob hit, she wanted to know what was going to be coming through that door beforehand. Doubtless Shaidar was doing the same with his own abilities, if he hadn't already done so.

In an instant, she had them. And found herself raising a delicate red eyebrow in mild surprise. She only sensed three people almost right outside the door to the club- although all three of them had their Auras unlocked. Emotionally, two of them were giving off a distinct feeling of trepidation. The third however, was more worrying.

For a moment, Paula thought what she sensed was blood-lust. Then she recognized that the hot eagerness was a playful glee. One so intense that Paula could imagine the person skipping.

Paula's golden eyes narrowed, but she didn't have a chance to dwell on that. At that moment the three men holding the door were sent sprawling as the heavy metal doors flew open, doubtlessly thanks to an Aura-infused kick or punch. Her pistol was leveled at the door before she saw the person walking through it.

Only to pause, feeling an echo of shared surprise from Shaidar. A blonde-haired teenage girl had stepped from the darkness beyond into the light and music of the club with a carefree swagger. Music that had, by some strange quirk of fate, changed to a cheery, upbeat tune.

"Guess who's baaa~cck?" Yang Xiao Long sang out with a grin, her purple eyes dancing with a glint of playfulness.

* * *

**Chapter**** Note:**

_And...here. We. Go._

My apologies for such a short chapter, but a lot of stuff that was supposed to take place here got moved to either earlier in the story or, in two cases, incorporated into later chapters. Which is why the last few chapters have been a bit on the slow side.

Speaking of which, in response to recent feedback, I've taken the liberty of going back and tweaking a few things in previous chapters. Which I hope will help clear quite a few things up and make the story flow better.

* * *

**Guest:  
**I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. I thought it was a nice way to show how much things have already started to diverge from canon and just a nice scene for Ozpin and Ironwood in general. As its always great to see two character that are on the same side getting along and behaving like adults instead of squabbling like children.

Thank you! And I fully plan on doing just that.

**Lord Jaric:  
**Can you really blame Neo though? I'm pretty sure most people would get fed up pretty quickly if they had to work with Cinder for any real length of time.

Well, it wouldn't be much fun if they were right all the time, now would it?


End file.
